Optical microscopy and confocal data of aerosol jet printed lines over a 16-hour print duration.

Optical microscopy images and confocal data for Aerosol Jet Printed (AJP) lines over a 16 hour print duration is provide in this dataset ("Mapping Drift in Morphology and Electrical Performance in Aerosol Jet Printing" [1]). Lines were uninterruptedly printed by AJP on a glass substrate using silver nanoparticle ink over a 16-hour time frame. The ink used for this experiment was a 0.6:0.3:0.2 mL mixture of Clariant Prelect TPS 50 G2 silver nanoparticle ink, ethylene glycol, and deionized water, respectively. Deposition was achieved with an Optomec AJ 300-UP Aerosol JetTM Deposition System using a Sprint Series Ultrasonic Atomizer MAX, aerodynamic filtering, and a nozzle having an orifice diameter of 150 µm. The typical focus ratio of 1.75 within standard range was used. The optical microscopic images of 350 µm AJP printed lines at 80 different time points were then selectively collected. Keyence VK-X200 with 150x magnification was used, which provided 50 µm to 267 pixel resolution image with more than 1000 cross-sections at each time point. Filtering of the pixels with outlying heights was performed with a multi-file analyzer. The dataset was primarily collected to understand system-level, temporal drifts in print morphology, which would further allow to predict electrical performance in time domain. Additional purposes for the dataset include: 1) benchmark dataset for morphology and print performance between AJP systems and print settings, 2) test data for new image filtering, segmentation, and classification algorithms and 3) baseline training data for real-time, in situ classification of operational time windows for AJP feedback control.

Conductivity and radio frequency performance data for silver nanoparticle inks deposited via aerosol jet deposition and processed under varying conditions.

In fabricating electronic components or devices via Aerosol Jet Printing (AJP) there are numerous options for commercially available Metal NanoParticle (MNP) inks. Regardless of the MNP ink selected, the electrical properties of the final product are not commensurate to those of the bulk metal due to the inherent porosity and impurity-infused composition that is characteristic of these heterogeneous feedstock. Hence, choosing the best MNP ink for a particular application can be difficult, even among those based on the same metal, as each ink formulation can yield different performance metrics depending on the specific formulation and the conditions under which it is processed. In this article, the DC conductivity of AJP pads and the Radio Frequency (RF) transmission loss of AJP Coplanar Waveguides (CPWs) are presented for three different, commercially available silver MNP inks; Advanced Nano Products (ANP) Silverjet DGP 40LT-15C, Clariant Prelect TPS 50 G2, and UT Dots UTDAg40X. We determined conductivity values by measuring the printed pad thicknesses using stylus profilometry and measuring sheet resistances using a co-linear 4-point probe. Additionally, we collected RF spectra using a performance network analyzer over the 10 MHz - 40 GHz range. A complete description of the preparation, AJP procedure, and sintering is provided. Conductivity and RF data are presented for several scenarios including sintering temperatures, sintering atmospheres, and un-sintered storage conditions. We anticipate this dataset will serve as a useful reference for benchmarking electrical performance and troubleshooting pre- and post-processing steps for Ag nanoparticle based AJP inks.

Shape-reprogrammable polymers: encoding, erasing, and re-encoding.

Shape-reprogramming in a polymer is demonstrated, where prescribed 3D geometric information can be encoded, decoded, erased, and re-encoded. In essence, the shape-reprogrammable polymer (SRP) acts as computer hardware that can be reformatted and reprogrammed repeatedly. Such SRPs have the potential to be repurposed directly without going through material disposal and recycling.

Free-standing arrays of isolated TiO2 nanotubes through supercritical fluid drying.

A common complication in fabricating arrays of TiO(2) nanotubes is that they agglomerate into tightly packed bundles during the inevitable solvent evaporation step. This problem is particularly acute for template-fabricated TiO(2) nanotubes, as the geometric tunability of this technique enables relatively large inter-pore spacings or, from another perspective, more space for lateral displacement. Our work showed that agglomeration results from the surface tension forces that are present as the ambient solvent is evaporated from the nanotube film. Herein, we report a processing and fabrication approach that utilizes supercritical fluid drying (CO(2)) to prepare arrays of template-fabricated TiO(2) nanotubes that are free-standing and spatially isolated. This approach could be beneficial to many emerging technologies, such as solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells and vertically-oriented carbon nanotube electrodes.