Organic (semi)conducting materials for 3D printed electronic sensing devices

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Electronic devices that are compliant to a variety of form factors is one of the sine qua non conditions for the integration of sensing and optoelectronic technologies in packaging, wearables and connected objects for the Internet of Things. Advances in organic (semi)conducting materials prove that this category of compounds stands as a key player to achieve highly conformable, sustainable, and cost-effective devices. Indeed, the mechanical properties of the organic electronics components can be matched to those of the supporting (soft) substrate and of the targeted object to be laminated with the devices. While developing synthetic and processing strategies to optimize organic electronics compounds in the context of soft and printable devices is a blooming area of research, there is a strong interest in tackling the challenges associated with their monolithic integration within an object. Such integration would eliminate the need for the lamination step and the constraints associated with the mechanical properties of the substrate, leading to the freeform design of self-standing organic electronics devices. In this pan-Canadian collaborative project, we outline our approaches towards the use of organic (semi)conducting materials to prepare three-dimension (3D) printed electronic sensing technologies. While the 2021 Flexible and Printed electronics roadmap mentions that the market size for 3D printed electronics is estimated to reach $1 billion in 2025, it also highlights that it is 'a nascent field'. The scarcity of the investigations on the 3D printing of organic (semi)conducting compounds clearly identifies a gap in fundamental knowledge, to be filled by this research. For instance, conductive filaments made from commodity polymers and carbon nanomaterials for fused deposition modeling are commercially available. However, the use of halogenated solvents in their preparation, along with undisclosed blend composition topped by batch-to-batch variations in conductivity values impedes the establishment of reliable structure-processing-property relationships in the context of sustainable preparation of organic electronic sensing devices.To overcome these challenges, we will capitalize on the synergy of the organic electronics expertise of our team members, respectively in synthesis of vat dyes for organic electronics (Morin), in advanced fabrication (3D printing) and characterization of functional polymer materials (Laventure) and soft semiconductors and transistor sensors design (Rondeau-Gagné). Together, we aim to 1) develop a synthetic approach for an organic electronics semi-conducting solution and an all-polymer conducting filament formulations; 2) establish structure-processing-property relationships by correlating the formulation composition with the microstructure of the filament and that of the resulting 3D printed samples and 3) characterize the electronic and mechanical properties of the samples towards, ultimately, the design and fabrication of an electronic sensing platform. Overall, the breakthrough potential of our project lies in shifting the focus of the 3D printing field from structural to functional considerations, i.e. from complex, yet passive architectures, to architectures with technology-relevant built-in devices. Our project will also contribute to train highly qualified scientists with a unique multidisciplinary technical and professional skillset in materials chemistry, which can be leveraged towards innovative careers.