I-Corps: Air-Stable and Low-Cost Metal Inks for Wearable Electronics and Sensors

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是在可穿戴电子产品和传感器市场中商业化一种新的金属油墨技术，这些市场在柔性材料电子电路的可扩展制造中严重依赖可印刷和导电油墨。 在当今社会，可穿戴电子设备和传感器在日常生活中的应用越来越多，特别是通过智能手机的无线接口进行人体健康监测和即时诊断。 到2020年，可穿戴电子产品和传感器市场预计将达到约520亿美元，市场收入预计将以约16%的复合年增长率（CAGR）增长。 该项目中的客户发现结果将确定技术的市场机会并开发商业模式，从而导致潜在的初创企业，技术许可，以及重要的是，适合工业合作伙伴进行产品原型设计和评估以及潜在投资者审查的商业计划。该项目还将培训学生和研究人员，使他们更好地做好准备，以提高竞争力，并提高他们对追求创业精神和技术商业化的理解。I-Corps项目的重点是确定一种新的金属纳米墨水技术的商业化可行性，该技术可以使制造商能够制造灵活和可穿戴的电子产品和传感器。 虽然银油墨的当前使用已经主导了可印刷电子和可穿戴传感器行业，但是高温处理要求对于常见的温度敏感柔性材料是不充分的，并且金属氧化或迁移的倾向使印刷电子降级。 为了解决高温和高成本制造的高故障率之痛，该项目的核心技术具有空气稳定和低成本的金属油墨配方，具有创新的低温加工能力，用于在柔性材料上制造可穿戴电子产品和传感器。 为了在导电油墨和可穿戴传感器或电子产品的全球市场中具有竞争力，客户发现中的关键问题集中在了解目标市场的驱动力，特定于客户细分的价值主张，与制造过程相关的成本分解，采用新技术进行制造和包装的决策过程，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the commercialization of a new metal ink technology in the markets of wearable electronics and sensors which depend heavily on printable and conductive inks in scalable manufacturing of electronic circuits on flexible materials. In today's society wearable electronics and sensors have found increasing applications in daily life, especially for human health monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics via wireless interfaces with smartphones. The market for wearable electronics and sensors is forecast to reach about $52 billion by 2020, with the market revenue being expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 16%. Findings from the customer discovery in this project will identify the market opportunity of the technology and develop the business model, leading to potential start-up business, technology licensing, and importantly, a business plan suitable for the product prototyping and evaluation by industrial partners and review by potential investors. The project will also train students and researchers for their better preparation to be entrepreneurially competitive, and to enhance their understanding of what it takes to pursue the entrepreneurship and the technology commercialization. This I-Corps project focuses on determining the commercialization feasibility of a new metal nanoink technology which can enable manufacturers of flexible and wearable electronics and sensors. While the current use of silver inks has dominated the printable electronics and wearable sensors industries, the high-temperature processing requirement is inadequate for common temperature-sensitive flexible materials and the propensity of metal oxidation or mobility degrades the printed electronics. To address the pain of high-temperature and high-cost manufacturing with a high failure rate, the core technology in this project features an air-stable and low-cost metal ink formulation with an innovative low-temperature processing capability for manufacturing wearable electronics and sensors on flexible materials. To be competitive in the global markets of conductive inks and wearable sensors or electronics, key questions in the customer discovery focus on understanding the driving force for the targeted market, the value proposition specific to customer segments, the cost breakdown related to the manufacturing process, the decision-making process in adopting new technologies for manufacturing and packaging, and the major players and influencers in the manufacturing or product ecosystem.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.