Facial fabrication of paper-based flexible electronics with flash foam stamp lithography

A new method, embedded-3D printing (e-3DP), is reported for fabricating strain sensors within highly conformal and extensible elastomeric matrices. e-3DP allows soft sensors to be created in nearly arbitrary planar and 3D motifs in a highly programmable and seamless manner. Several embodiments are demonstrated and sensor performance is characterized. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Paper is ubiquitous in everyday life and a truly low-cost substrate. The use of paper substrates could be extended even further, if electronic applications would be applied next to or below the printed graphics. However, applying electronics on paper is challenging. The paper surface is not only very rough compared to plastics, but is also porous. While this is detrimental for most electronic devices manufactured directly onto paper substrates, there are also approaches that are compatible with the rough and absorptive paper surface. In this review, recent advances and possibilities of these approaches are evaluated and the limitations of paper electronics are discussed. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.