Systematic Design of Jettable Nanoparticle-Based Inkjet Inks: Rheology, Acoustics, and Jettability

Abstract

Drop-on-demand inkjet printing of functional inks has received a great deal of attention for realizing printed electronics, rapidly prototyped structures, and large-area systems. Although this method of printing promises high processing speeds and minimal substrate contamination, the performance of this process is often limited by the rheological parameters of the ink itself. Effective ink design must address a myriad of issues, including suppression of the coffee-ring effect, proper drop pinning on the substrate, long-term ink reliability, and, most importantly, stable droplet formation, or jettability. In this work, by simultaneously considering optimal jetting conditions and ink rheology, we develop and experimentally validate a jettability window within the capillary number−Weber number space. Furthermore, we demonstrate the exploitation of this window to adjust nanoparticle-based ink rheology predictively to realize a jettable ink. Finally, we investigate the influence of mass loading on jettability to establish additional practical limitations on nanoparticle ink design.

Orodispersible films: Towards drug delivery in special populations

“…Further, the opportunity of printing specific patterns could serve as a useful form of identification of the specific medicinal preparation, especially for patients subjected to polypharmacy . The technology is still in a developing phase and readying towards compliance to the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements for commercial-scale personalised pharmaceutical dosage manufacturing (Nallan et al, 2014). More precisely, selection of printer material compatible with printing ink, development of cleaning and process validation protocols are important issues to be addressed.…”

Paper‐Based Inkjet‐Printed Microfluidic Analytical Devices

“…(1)] have been utilized to evaluate the practical printability of fluids under DOD conditions. [52][53][54] …”

“…[55] This approximation has been modified and could be further modified to suit the printability of inks with more challenging rheological properties. [53,54,56] All of these numerical and experimental investigations are geared towards attaining stable, satellite-free printable inks that form welldefined patterns without clogging the nozzle. To achieve the required ink properties, it is often necessary to adjust the viscosity and surface tension by modifiers.…”

Printed 3D Electrode Arrays with Micrometer‐Scale Lateral Resolution for Extracellular Recording of Action Potentials

“…Yet, presently, drop‐on‐demand inkjet technology still encounters challenges in obtaining the desired resolution achieved with cleanroom‐fabricated 3D MEAs for single‐cell recording and stimulation. Several factors influence the possibility of inkjet printing 3D microstructures, such as the ink's rheological properties as well as the solvent evaporation . So far, printed micropillars with a diameter of 22 µm have been fabricated using a commercial inkjet printer .…”