Description du projet
Des conducteurs dans un tube: Laissez couler le flot de vos idées
Le flux d’électrons dans les conducteurs et semi-conducteurs métalliques solides, que ce soit sur de minuscules puces ou dans des câbles parcourant des milliers de kilomètres, a stimulé l’innovation pendant des décennies et a changé notre vie à jamais. Imaginez un monde dans lequel des conducteurs liquides souples et compressibles remplaceraient leurs homologue solides. Nous nous dirigeons rapidement vers l’internet des objets, l’industrie 4.0 et toujours plus de robots à l’image de l’homme et d’automatisation. Simultanément, la possibilité de disposer d’appareils électroniques et de dispositifs souples élargit les possibilités de conception et de développement et captive l’imagination des consommateurs. Le projet ELECTROFLUID, financé par l’UE, développe des conducteurs liquides pour l’électronique douce et les robots afin de soutenir cette nouvelle ère d’innovation.
Objectif
Today, most electronics and robots are based on solid metals and semiconductors. This project aims at “Electrofluids” that conduct electrons while flowing as liquids. Because liquids have virtually no yield strength, they are ideal materials to replace solid metal leads in truly soft devices. ELECTROFLUID uses highly concentrated suspensions that are liquid in a wide temperature range. Transient conductive networks in suspended particles of commonly used conductors provide high level of electronic conductivity at the viscosities required for soft electronics and robots. They contain common conductive materials such as carbon, silver, gold, and copper and do not require specialized low-melting alloys of gallium or other expensive elements.
In order to create stable Electrofluids with large conductivity at low viscosity with tuneable rheology, I study the interplay between particle-particle friction, contact resistance, percolation, bulk resistance, and suspension viscosity. I use both custom-synthesized and commercial particles in a size range of tens of nanometres to few microns and with different shapes, modify their surfaces with conventional and pi-conjugated surfactants, and formulate concentrated suspensions that exhibit large conductivity at low viscosity. The combination of different particle sizes, shapes, and fluids enables tuning the properties of the fluid towards specific application cases, for example to create highly flexible leads for logic signals versus high-power connections for the connection of actuators. The fluids will be encapsulated in elastomer tubes or micropatterned surfaces as they are commonly used in stretchable electronics.
The specific aims of the project are: (i) to design highly concentrated suspensions that form transient percolating networks, (ii) to use this knowledge and synthesize fluids with tuneable electrical conductivity at low viscosity, (iii) to demonstrate that Electrofluids can be curtailed for particular applications.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
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Régime de financement
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitution d’accueil
66123 Saarbruecken
Allemagne