Abstract Scope |
Aerosol JetŪ printing (AJŪP) is a printing technique that deposits a functional ink (viscosity range: 1-1000 mPas), as a focused aerosol flow, on flat/curved, rigid/flexible substrates. Applications are mostly related to printed electronics, and recently AJŪP has revealed promises in depositing biological materials and surface structuring. The potential of AJŪP as a 3D printing technique for high aspect ratio structures has instead received limited exploitation. By tailoring the ink properties and composition, and by modulating the platen temperature (ambient-200°C), the evaporation of the ink solvent(s) during the process can be controlled to produce novel 3D microstructures.
In this work, 3D micropillars using a silver nanoparticle, a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and a collagen-based ink are printed at various aspect ratios and resolutions.
The effect of inks composition, print strategies and shape control are discussed. These 3D microstructures can potentially be used for thermoelectric devices, biological interfaces, sensors, micro-pin arrays, etc. |