Engineers at Oregon State University have made a fundamental breakthrough in understanding the physics of photonic "sintering," which could lead to many new advances in solar cells, flexible electronics, various types of sensors and other high-tech products printed onto something as simple as a sheet of paper or plastic.
Sintering is the fusing of nanoparticles to form a solid, functional thin-film that can be used for many purposes, and the process could have considerable value for new technologies.
Photonic sintering has the possible advantage of higher speed and lower cost, compared to other technologies for nanoparticle sintering.
In the new research, OSU experts discovered that previous approaches to understand and control photonic sintering had been based on a flawed view of the basic physics involved, which had led to a gross overestimation of product quality and process efficiency.
Based on the new perspective of this process, which has been outlined in Nature's Scientific Reports, researchers now believe they can create high quality products at much lower temperatures, at least twice as fast and with 10 times more energy efficiency.