Flexible Touch Panel Mesh Grid Oxidation and Resistance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible touch panels with mesh type metal grids face limitations due to increased resistance when bent or stretched, and existing solutions do not effectively prevent oxidation of metal grids, which degrades their performance.
Innovation Solution
A touch panel design featuring a substrate with mesh type metal grids covered by a transparent conductive layer, which acts as an oxidation barrier and reduces resistance, formed using electrohydrodynamic jet printing to create metal lines with curved surfaces and a patterning process that includes graphene, metal nanowires, or PEDOT for enhanced durability and transmittance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mesh type metal grids are used in flexible touch panels, then conductivity and structural integrity are improved, but resistance increases when bent or stretched
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines metal grids with transparent conductive materials (such as ITO, IZO, or transparent conductive polymers) to form a composite structure. This composite material approach maintains the structural integrity and flexibility of the metal grid while the transparent conductive material provides additional conductive pathways that compensate for resistance increases during bending or stretching, thereby resolving the contradiction between structural integrity and resistance stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs thin film structures for both the metal grid and the transparent conductive layer, allowing the entire assembly to flex and stretch without significant resistance increase. The thin film configuration enables the material to deform elastically during bending, maintaining electrical conductivity while adapting to flexible form factors, thus reducing the harmful effect of resistance increase during deformation.
2Ease of manufacture
If metal grids are exposed to environment, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but oxidation occurs which degrades performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a transparent conductive material as an intermediary layer between the metal grid and the environment. This intermediate layer serves as a protective barrier that prevents direct contact between the metal grid and oxidizing agents in the environment, thereby preventing oxidation and performance degradation while maintaining the simplicity of the manufacturing process by adding only one additional layer.
Solution Approach 2:
By creating a composite structure where the transparent conductive material is deposited over the metal grid, the patent forms a protected composite material system. The metal grid provides structural support and conductivity, while the outer transparent conductive layer provides oxidation resistance, thus maintaining manufacturing simplicity while improving reliability against environmental degradation.
3Reliability
If transparent conductive layer is added to cover metal grids, then oxidation prevention and resistance reduction are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The transparent conductive layer is designed to serve multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as an oxidation barrier protecting the metal grid, provides additional conductive pathways to reduce overall resistance, and maintains optical transparency for display applications. By consolidating these multiple functions into a single layer, the patent improves reliability and performance without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a functional composite material system where the transparent conductive material integrated over the metal grid provides multiple benefits in one structure. This composite approach prevents oxidation, reduces resistance, and maintains transparency simultaneously, achieving multiple improvements while adding only one material layer, thus limiting the increase in device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution significantly reduces resistance increase when bent or stretched and prevents oxidation of metal grids, making the touch panel suitable for flexible applications with improved durability and light transmittance.
Implementation Method 1
a transparent conductive layer patterned to correspond to each of the sense patterns and disposed to cover the metal grids
Implementation Method 2
formed using electrohydrodynamic jet printing to create metal lines with curved surfaces
Data Source
AI summary
A touch panel, a display apparatus, and a method of manufacturing the touch panel. The touch panel includes a substrate, sense patterns disposed on the substrate and including a mesh type metal grid, and a transparent conductive layer patterned to correspond to each of the sense patterns and disposed to cover the metal grid.