A Route towards Fabrication of Functional Ceramic/Polymer Nanocomposite Devices Using the Cold Sintering Process

Abstract

The use of low-temperature and energy-efficient techniques to fabricate composites with tailored interfaces is currently a topic of growing interest. This study reports the proof of concept of a process to fabricate functional multilayer varistor (MLV) devices below 150 °C. In this MLV device, a small volume fraction of polyetherimide polymer is used to engineer ZnO grain boundaries, and the multilayer composite is cofired with base metal internal electrodes via the cold sintering cofired ceramic (CSCC). The resulting dense nanocomposite MLV and controlled nonlinear current–voltage response of the device confirmed the potential of CSCC. This work also opens up the possibility to fabricate multilayer devices for other types of applications.