(407e) 3D-Printed Graphene/Polymer Structures for Electron-Tunneling Based Devices

Designing 3D printed micro-architectures using electronic materials with well-understood electronic transport within such structures will potentially lead to accessible device fabrication for ‘on-demand’ applications. Here we show controlled nozzle-extrusion based 3D printing of a nano-composite of graphene/polylactic acid enabling the fabrication of a tensile gauge functioning via the readjustment of the electron-tunneling barrier width between conductive graphene-centers. The electronic transport in the graphene/polymer 3D printed structure exhibited a transport-barrier of 0.15 meV and a tunneling width of 0.79 – 0.95 nm (Fowler Nordheim electron tunneling) with graphene centers having a carrier concentration of 2.66 ×10¹²/cm³. Furthermore, a mechanical strain that increases the electron-tunneling width between graphene nanostructures (~5.5 nm) by only 0.16 Angstrom, reduces the electron flux by 1 e/s/nm² (from 18.51 to 19.51 e/s/nm²) through the polylactic acid junctions in the 3D-printed heterostructure. We envision that the proposed electron-tunneling model for conductive 3D-printed structures with thermal expansion and external strain, will lead to an evolution in design of next-generation of ‘on-demand’ printed electronic and electromechanical devices.