Ink‐jet Printing Polymers and Polymer Libraries Using Micropipettes

Abstract

Summary: A study is presented on ink‐jet printing polymers, aiming at library generation for combinatorial material science applications, using (optimized) micropipettes. Solvents were successfully ink‐jet printed, up to 160 mPa s viscosity. Printability of polymer solutions decreases strongly with $\overline M _{\rm w}$ and polymer concentration, due to elastic stresses originating from elongational flow in the pipette nozzle. The feasibility of ink‐jet printing to generate arrays of polymer dots and films was demonstrated.An array of square films is shown that was created by printing a solution containing polydisperse polystyrene in acetophenone and 0.1% disperse red 1 to improve the contrast.magnified imageAn array of square films is shown that was created by printing a solution containing polydisperse polystyrene in acetophenone and 0.1% disperse red 1 to improve the contrast.

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“…Due to the high viscoelasticity of long polymers at reasonably high concentrations they are diffi cult or even impossible to print. [ 20 ] IJP of TIPS-PEN onto a layer of high Mw P α MS would circumvent this issue.…”

Gradient and Microfluidic Library Approaches to Polymer Interfaces

“…By varying spin speed and solution concentration, a discrete film thickness library could be built; moreover, the method can be used to cast discrete compositional libraries of, for example, polymer blends. Another route for discrete film library fabrication is ink jetting, which has been explored by several groups [8][9][10][11]. As with sector spin coating, this technique can be used to create compositional spreads.…”