Issue 13, 2023

Additive manufacturing of polyaniline blends for lightweight structures with tunable conductivity

Abstract

Printable feedstocks that can produce lightweight, robust, and ductile structures with tunable and switchable conductivity are of considerable interest for numerous application spaces. Combining the specific properties of commodity thermoplastics with the unique electrical and redox properties of conducting polymers (CPs) presents new opportunities for the field of printed (bio)electronics. Here, we report on the direct ink write (DIW) printing of ink formulations based on polyaniline-dinonylnaphthalene sulfonic acid (PANI-DNNSA), which has been synthesized in bulk quantities (∼400 g). DNNSA imparts solubility to PANI up to 50 mg mL−1, which allows the use of various additives to tune the rheological behavior of the inks without significantly compromising the electrical properties of the printed structures, which reach conductivities in the range of <10−7–100 S cm−1 as a function of ink formulation and post treatment used. Fumed silica (FS) and ultra-high molecular weight polystyrene (UHMW-PS) additives are leveraged to endow printability and shape retention to inks, as well as to compare the use of traditional rheological modifiers with commodity thermoplastics on CP feedstocks for tailored DIW printing. We show that the incorporation of UHMW-PS into these ink formulations is critical for obtaining high crack resistance in printed structures. This work serves as a guide for future ink designs of CPs with commodity thermoplastics and their subsequent DIW printing to yield conductive architectures and devices for various applications.

Graphical abstract: Additive manufacturing of polyaniline blends for lightweight structures with tunable conductivity

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Oct 2022
Accepted
02 Mar 2023
First published
15 Mar 2023

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023,11, 4404-4414

Author version available

Additive manufacturing of polyaniline blends for lightweight structures with tunable conductivity

B. T. DiTullio, X. Kuang, A. M. Österholm, A. W. Lang, P. J. Kinlen, N. Stingelin, H. J. Qi and J. R. Reynolds, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023, 11, 4404 DOI: 10.1039/D2TC04183A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements