Flexible transparent antennas (FTAs) are widely used in wireless transmission fields, and their technological iterations are accelerating. However, the high losses caused by materials and structures limit the development of FTAs with both high light transmission and high gain, and the rapid iteration rate demands greater process flexibility, which makes it difficult for existing technologies to achieve both demands. Here, we design a novel shell-core structure composite metal mesh (CMM) FTA to achieve extremely low skin depth loss and ohmic loss using skin effect and report a novel hybrid additive manufacturing method based on electric field oriented deposition to achieve efficient and flexible manufacturing of the unique Ag/Cu core-shell structure CMM FTA. The typical sample has a light transmittance of 80% (including substrate) when the sheet resistance is 0.29 Ω·sq⁻¹, and has excellent bending and torsion resistance. The peak gain in the working band is as high as 5.22 dB, and the efficiency is 80%, which is close to the performance of the opaque Cu patch antenna. It also realizes smooth and stable real-time wireless transmission under bending and long-distance conditions. This method addresses the shortcomings of FTAs, namely their high cost, low manufacturing efficiency, and low performance, especially in the rapid iterative development of antennas.

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing represents a novel micro/nano-scale additive manufacturing process that utilises a high-voltage induced electric field between the nozzle and the substrate to print micro/nanoscale structures. EHD printing is particularly advantageous for the fabrication on flexible or non-flat substrates and of large aspect ratio micro/nanostructures and composite multi-material structures. Despite this, EHD printing has yet to be fully industrialised due to its low throughput, which is primarily caused by the limitations of serial additive printing technology. The parallel multi-nozzle array-based process has become the most promising option for EHD printing to achieve large-scale printing by increasing the number of nozzles to realise multichannel parallel printing. This paper reviews the recent development of multi-nozzle EHD printing technology, analyses jet motion with multi-nozzle, explains the origins of the electric field crosstalk effect under multi-nozzle and discusses several widely used methods for overcoming it. This work also summarises the impact of different process parameters on multi-nozzle EHD printing and describes the current manufacturing process using multi-nozzle as well as the method by which they can be realised independently. In addition, it presents an additional significant utilisation of multi-nozzle printing aside from enhancing single-nozzle production efficiency, which is the production of composite phase change materials through multi-nozzle. Finally, the future direction of multi-nozzle EHD printing development is discussed and envisioned.

Flexible and stretchable transparent electrodes are widely used in smart display, energy, wearable devices and other fields. Due to the limitations of flexibility and stretchability of indium tin oxide electrodes, alternative electrodes have appeared, such as metal films, metal nanowires, and conductive meshes. However, few of the above electrodes can simultaneously have excellent flexibility, stretchability, and optoelectronic properties. Nanofiber (NF), a continuous ultra-long one-dimensional conductive material, is considered to be one of the ideal materials for high-performance transparent electrodes with excellent properties due to its unique structure. This paper summarizes the important research progress of NF flexible transparent electrodes (FTEs) in recent years from the aspects of NF electrode materials, preparation technology and application. First, the unique advantages and limitations of various NF materials are systematically discussed. Then, we summarize the preparation technology of various advanced NF FTEs, and point out the future development trend. We also discuss the application of NFs in solar cells, supercapacitors, electric heating equipments, sensors, etc, and analyze its development potential in flexible electronic equipment, as well as problems that need to be solved. Finally, the challenges and future development trends are proposed in the wide application of NF FTEs in the field of flexible optoelectronics.