I-Corps: Bubble printing of colloidal nanoparticles for commercial display and other applications

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业影响是以低成本开发商业高分辨率显示面板，用于未来应用，如增强现实/虚拟现实显示器和柔性显示器。目前的制造技术在显示器的像素尺寸上具有有限的分辨率，这将8 K分辨率和更高分辨率的消费者显示屏限制为32英寸或更大的显示器尺寸。在较小但高性能的显示器中引入类似的分辨率会增加成本，从而限制潜在的客户群。使用所提出的技术，由于在类似的吞吐量下的小像素的制造能力，可以控制成本。除了显示器，受益于高分辨率制造设备的其他行业领域包括印刷和柔性电子产品、生物传感器和太阳能电池制造。例如，太阳能电池的高分辨率提高了电荷保持能力，并可以更高的效率将光转化为热，从而改善了太阳能产品的范围。 一旦商业化，该技术预计将在工业一级创造光刻技术的科学进步，并加强工业界和学术界之间的伙伴关系。这个I-Corps项目是基于一种名为“气泡印刷”的激光制造技术的开发。激光吸收材料被涂覆在基底上，并被低功率激光束激发。所得到的光学加热导致在溶液-基底界面处，在基底上方的溶液中形成微泡。微泡将溶液中的油墨和胶体颗粒吸引到加热点，并且油墨/颗粒由于吸引的货车德瓦尔斯力而牢固地附着到基底。在移动激光束时，加热的光斑不断移动，从而允许连续打印量子点。通过调节激光束的功率和速度，可以精确地控制气泡尺寸和所得到的打印分辨率。这项技术已经在玻璃和柔性基板上得到了证明，不同的颗粒，如量子点（用于显示器），纳米合金（用于催化），生物分子（用于传感），胶体颗粒（用于3D纳米制造）和金属油墨（用于Sers和导电线）在学术水平。拟议的活动将导致商业气泡打印机的发展，以达到显示图案分辨率和均匀性的工业标准，沿着相关行业的其他切入点。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The broader impact/commercial impact of this I-Corps project is developing commercial high-resolution display panels at a low cost for futuristic applications such as augmented reality/virtual reality displays and flexible displays. Current manufacturing techniques have a limited resolution on the pixel size of the display, which restricts consumer displays screens of 8K resolution and higher to display sizes of 32 inches or more. Introducing similar resolution in smaller but high-performance displays increases the cost, which limits the potential customer base. Using the proposed technology, the cost may be controlled due to the manufacturing ability of small pixels at similar throughput. Apart from displays, other industry domains that benefit from high-resolution manufacturing equipment are printed and flexible electronics, biosensors, and solar cell manufacturing. For example, higher resolution in solar cells increases the charge retention capacity and may convert light to heat at a greater efficiency, resulting in an improved range of solar products. Once commercialized, the technology is expected to create scientific advances in lithography at the industry level and increase partnerships between industry and academia. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a laser-based manufacturing technique called “Bubble Printing.” A laser-absorbing material is coated on the substrate and is excited with a low-powered laser beam. The resultant optical heating results in the formation of a microbubble in the solution above the substrate, at the solution-substrate interface. The microbubble attracts the ink and colloidal particles in the solution to the heated spot and the ink/particles are attached firmly to the substrate due to attractive Van der Waals forces. Upon moving the laser beam, the heated spot continuously shifts, allowing the continuous printing of quantum dots. By tuning the power and speed of the laser beam, the bubble size and the resultant printing resolution may be precisely controlled. This technology has been demonstrated on glass and flexible substrates, with different particles such as quantum dots (for displays), nanoalloys (for catalysis), biomolecules (for sensing), colloidal particles (for 3D nanomanufacturing), and metallic inks (for SERS and electrically conductive lines) at the academic level. The proposed activity would result in the development of commercial bubble printer to achieve industrial standards in display patterning resolution and uniformity, along with scoping other entry points in related industries.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.