Electrical Characterization of PEDOT:PSS Strips Deposited by Inkjet Printing on Plastic Foil for Sensor Manufacturing

Abstract

Inkjet printing is a viable method for rapid and low-cost manufacturing of flexible sensors. In this paper, we study a technique for inkjet printing of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) strips. A low-cost inkjet desktop printer is used for the fabrication of PEDOT: PSS resistive strips on polyimide substrates. Accounting for several geometries of printed PEDOT: PSS strips, we assess the variability of the fabrication process. Owing to the printing process, we can easily choose the width, length, and thickness. We found that printed strips on polyimide foils show a conductivity equal to 115 S/cm, which linearly increases with the strip thickness. The maximum variability is lower than 13%. The frequency analysis shows a purely resistive impedance in the frequency range investigated (100 Hz-100 kHz). Moreover, the strips folded up to 1000 times shows a resistance variation lower than 6%. The study demonstrates that inkjet printing is a viable method for the simple, fast, reliable, and low-cost fabrication of PEDOT:PSS-based sensors on plastic substrates and circuit interconnections

Flexible distributed Bragg reflectors as optical outcouplers for OLEDs based on a polymeric anode

“…The PEDOT:PSS thin film deposited on top of the flexible DBR showed an increment of its electrical resistance of about 15% after 1,000 bending cycles, with a curvature radius of 2.5 mm; whereas in the same stress conditions, the thin silver film showed an improvement of more than 100% (Figure 4). Such results confirm the superior flexibility of PEDOT:PSS with respect to metallic electrodes, as already reported in literature [15,27,28].…”

Printability and Properties of Conductive Inks on Primer-Coated Surfaces

“…This was more perceived at the lines with widths of 0.4 and 0.7 mm. Such effects were also reported in literature and were related to the different surface/bulk ratio [13]. As to the effect of the primer, the electrical performance was dependent on the ink/primer combination.…”

“…Conductive inks have been processed by screen printing, gravure printing, flexography, or inkjet printing [2,7,11,12]. Previous research focused on analysing the conductive inks' performance on substrates, such as paper, glass, and polymer films [2,[11][12][13][14]. So far, the printability and functional properties of conductive inks on anticorrosive primer coatings have not yet been investigated.…”

Printed Smart Devices on Cellulose-Based Materials by means of Aerosol-Jet Printing and Photonic Curing

“…Paper electronics is emerging owing to the possibility to realize circuits and electrical components avoiding conventional techniques [11][12][13][14] but presenting limitations in the realization of complex devices which can be produced only considering multilayer steps, thus lengthening the manufacturing process [1]. These limitations are usually related to the technologies employed in the realization of such devices, like screen-printing or inkjet printing, which allow only planar printings [11,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Another alternative can be the so-called 3D-origami technique, consists of a specific paper folding to develop a final electro-device [23,24].…”