Programmable Contact Printing Using Ballpoint Pens with a Digital Plotter for Patterning Electrodes on Paper

Abstract

A simple programmable contact printing method using ballpoint pens with silver nanoparticle (AgNP) and carbon nanotube (CNT) ink and a digital plotter were developed for quick patterning of electrodes on paper. This printing method enables sequential and programmable printing with two different inks and with ink consisting of high viscosity materials and is amenable to reproducibility of printed electrodes and customized designs. With this printing method, AgNP and CNT patterns with low electrical resistance and high density of the material can be printed. Using these AgNP and CNT inks, we fabricated disposable electrochemical sensors (ECSs) on paper. The ECSs were successfully used to detect glucose at various concentrations from 0 to 15 mM. The characteristics of the printed AgNP and CNT patterns, such as the printing resolution, surface morphology, and electrical properties, were also studied. The proposed contact printing method opens an avenue for printing paper-based electronics and devices.

Affordable Fabrication of Conductive Electrodes and Dielectric Films for a Paper-based Digital Microfluidic Chip

“…Obtaining a proper method for printing a customized electrode is crucial. To that end, we explored a simple printing method using a customized ballpoint pen [ 20 , 21 , 22 ] and a type of direct contact printing in which we simply replaced the pigment ink in the stylus with conductive AgNP ink. After the ballpoint pen had been prepared, we inserted it into a pen holder of the plotter for printing in a programmable manner [ 20 ].…”

“…3) was employed for the printing. The ballpoint pen used for the printing with a digital plotter was prepared as reported previously [ 20 ]. After the original ink had been removed, the empty cartridge was sonicated in an ethanol bath for a day, after which it was cleaned with water.…”

Recent Advances in Microfluidic Paper-Based Analytical Devices toward High-Throughput Screening

“…The inkjet printing may require several or single printing time(s) to pattern good conductive electrodes because it can only print low viscosity ink (1–40 cP), which depends on the type of paper and inkjet printer used for the fabrication [ 109 , 110 ]. Lastly, the ballpoint pen printing method was reported that it could print conductive electrodes on photo paper within a single printing time [ 111 , 112 ]. A recent review paper by Noviana et al has summarized methods for the fabrication of electrochemical paper-based devices [ 21 ].…”

Programmable Paper-Based Microfluidic Devices for Biomarker Detections

“…Paper-based microfluidic devices can be fabricated by assembling the cut paper, the paper or the adhesive film, the paper to form a three-dimensional (3D) channel (Figure 4). Stacking, origami, and lamination can be used to assemble each layer of the microfluidic device [48,49,50,51,52,53]. This fabrication method relies on the abilities to pattern a hydrophobic fluid barrier and to use a cutting method to generate each layer before the layers are assembled together.…”