University of Illinois

South Dakota Board of Regents

Zhengtao Zhu

Matthew Alexander Meitl

John A Rogers

Ralph G Nuzzo

Yugang Sun

Dahl-Young Khang

Etienne Menard

Keon Jae Lee

Heung Cho Ko

Mark Stoykovich

Hanqing Jiang

Yonggang Huang

Andrew Evert Carlson

Won Mook Choi

Shawn Mack

Hao Fong

Yong Zhao

Lifeng Zhang

Yichun Ding

Jong Hyun Ahn

Hoon-sik Kim

Daniel Heglund

Seong Jun Kang

Yongchen Yang

The invention provides methods and devices for fabricating printable semiconductor elements and assembling printable semiconductor elements onto substrate surfaces. Methods, devices and device components of the present invention are capable of generating a wide range of flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices and arrays of devices on substrates comprising polymeric materials. The present invention also provides stretchable semiconductor structures and stretchable electronic devices capable of good performance in stretched configurations.

Methods and devices for fabricating and assembling printable semiconductor elements

This disclosure is related to a class of metal-ion induced hydrophobic polymers and method of producing such class of compounds by a one-step solution immersion process. Specifically, a metal-ion Induced hydrophobic polymer or melamine sponge (MII-HMS) is disclosed. Such polymer or sponge is demonstrated to be highly hydrophobic and oleophilic and exhibits excellent oil absorption capabilities, being able to absorb a wide range of oils and organic solvents up to 71 to 157 times of its own weight.

Highly hydrophobic and oleophilic melamine resin via metal-ion induced wettability transition, application, and preparation thereof

A method to assemble a highly stretchable and highly sensitive strain sensor. Carbon nanofibers prepared by electrospinning of PAN followed by stabilization and carbonization, are sandwiched in two layers of elastomer PU. The CNFs/PU strain sensor shows large strain range of 300%, high sensitivity with gauge factor up to 72.5, and superior stability and durability during 8000 cycles of stretch/release. The CNFs/PU strain sensor shows fast, stable and reproducible responses following the bending movement of fingers, wrists, and elbows. The flexible CNFs/PU strain sensor with has broad applications in wearable devices for human motion monitoring.

Highly stretchable strain sensor for human motion monitoring

A method of synthesizing mechanically resilient titanium carbide (TiC) nanofibrous felts comprising continuous nanofibers or nano-ribbons with TiC crystallites embedded in carbon matrix, comprising: (a) electrospinning a spin dope for making precursor nanofibers with diameters less than 0.5 J.Lm; (b) overlaying the nanofibers to produce a nano-fibrous mat (felt); and then (c) heating the nano-felts first at a low temperature, and then at a high temperature for making electrospun continuous nanofibers or nano-ribbons with TiC crystallites embedded in carbon matrix; and (d) chlorinating the above electrospun nano-felts at an elevated temperature to remove titanium for producing carbide derived carbon (CDC) nano-fibrous felt with high specific surface areas.

Titanium carbide (TiC) nano-fibrous felts

In an aspect, the present invention provides stretchable, and optionally printable, components such as semiconductors and electronic circuits capable of providing good performance when stretched, compressed, flexed or otherwise deformed, and related methods of making or tuning such stretchable components. Stretchable semiconductors and electronic circuits preferred for some applications are flexible, in addition to being stretchable, and thus are capable of significant elongation, flexing, bending or other deformation along one or more axes. Further, stretchable semiconductors and electronic circuits of the present invention are adapted to a wide range of device configurations to provide fully flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Controlled buckling structures in semiconductor interconnects and nanomembranes for stretchable electronics

A method of synthesizing mechanically resilient titanium carbide (TiC) nanofibrous felts comprising continuous nanofibers or nano-ribbons with TiC crystallites embedded in carbon matrix, comprising: (a) electrospinning a spin dope for making precursor nanofibers with diameters less than 0.5 J.Lm; (b) overlaying the nanofibers to produce a nanofibrous mat (felt); and then (c) heating the nano-felts first at a low temperature, and then at a high temperature for making electrospun continuous nanofibers or nano-ribbons with TiC crystallites embedded in carbon matrix; and (d) chlorinating the above electrospun nano-felts at an elevated temperature to remove titanium for producing carbide derived carbon (CDC) nano-fibrous felt with high specific surface areas.

Process of making titanium carbide (TiC) nano-fibrous felts

Growing community of inventors

Rapid City, SD, United States of America

Zhengtao Zhu