Elastic printed conductors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11849540-B2
Application number	US-202217728567-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2022
Priority date	Jun 7, 2018
Publication date	Dec 19, 2023
Grant date	Dec 19, 2023

Abstract

The development of stretchable, mechanically and electrically robust interconnects by printing an elastic, silver-based composite ink onto stretchable fabric. Such interconnects can have conductivity of 3000-4000 S/cm and are durable under cyclic stretching. In serpentine shape, the fabric-based conductor is enhanced in electrical durability. Resistance increases only ˜5 times when cyclically stretched over a thousand times from zero to 30% strain at a rate of 4% strain per second due to the ink permeating the textile structure. The textile fibers are ‘wetted’ with composite ink to form a conductive, stretchable cladding of the silver particles. The e-textile can realize a fully printed, double-sided electronic system of sensor-textile-interconnect integration. The double-sided e-textile can be used for a surface electromyography (sEMG) system to monitor muscles activities, an electroencephalography (EEG) system to record brain waves, and the like.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic textile apparatus comprising:
a) a porous textile having fibers, a surface, and an opposite surface;
b) a patterned electrically conductive pad that coats a portion of the fibers at the surface of the textile;
wherein the electrically conductive pad has a two-layer structure, where the top layer shows a fibrous structure which comprises conductive material and the bottom layer shows a distinct joined fibrous structure wherein the fibers of the textile are amalgamated by an elastomer;
wherein the electrically conductive pad comprises the elastomer and metal particles.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the fibers are synthetic fibers such as a fiber comprising electrospun polyurethane.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the elastomer is a fluoropolymer or a fluorocopolymer.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the metal particles have a diameter of up to about 10 micrometers.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the textile has an electrical resistance ratio of about 10 or less than 10 after about 1000 cyclic stretches from zero to about 30% strain at a rate of about 4% strain per second.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the textile has a pore size of about 1 micrometer to about 100 micrometers.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:
c) a patterned electrically conductive wire that coats a portion of the fibers at the opposite surface of the textile;
d) an electrically conductive interconnect that coats a portion of the fibers within the textile, disposable between the surface and the opposite surface of the textile, and in contact with the wire and the electrically conductive pad;
wherein the wire and the electrically conductive interconnect comprises the elastomer and the metal particles.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the surface and the opposite surface of the textile has coated fibers up to a depth of about 100 micrometers within the textile.

9. A method for fabricating an electronic textile, the method comprising:
a) providing a porous textile having fibers, a surface, and an opposite surface;
b) coating a portion of the fibers at the surface of the textile with conductive ink material to form a patterned electrically conductive pad, wherein the conductive ink material comprises an elastomer and metal particles; and
c) squeezing the fibers in the presence of the conductive ink material to form a two-layer structure of the patterned electrically conductive pad, the two-layer structure comprising a top layer and a bottom layer, where the top layer shows a fibrous structure which comprises conductive material and the bottom layer shows a distinct joined fibrous structure wherein the fibers of the textile are amalgamated by the elastomer.

10. The printing process of claim 9 , wherein:
the elastomer is a fluorocopolymer;
the metal particles are metal flakes; and

the conductive ink material comprises about 1 part to about 5 parts of (a) the fluorocopolymer, about 1 part to about 5 parts of (b) an organic solvent, and about 1 part to about 5 parts of (c) the metal flakes.

Assignees

• Univ Alberta

Inventors

• Chung Hyun-Joong
• Rieger Jana
• La Thanh-Giang
• Qiu Shide
• Scott Dylan

Classifications

• H05K1/0283 Primary

  Stretchable printed circuits · CPC title

• A61B5/02055

  Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature · CPC title

• A61B5/296

  for electromyography [EMG] · CPC title

• A61B5/6804

  Garments; Clothes · CPC title

• C09D11/10

  based on artificial resins · CPC title