Electrohydrodynamic inkjet printing of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)

Abstract

The current fabrication methods for micro and nano scale Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) devices either require high environmental conditions or sophisticated procedures at high cost. Electrohydrodynamic inkjet (EHD) printing is a potential method to effectively fabricate micro scale PDMS devices because EHD printing is environment-friendly, low-cost, compatible to various inks, and most importantly, high resolution. However, little research has been conducted to study EHD printing of PDMS-based ink. In this paper, EHD printing of PDMS has been investigated. The effects of several critical parameters on the printing process were studied. The dimension of the printed patterns and the printing frequency were preciously controlled by the voltage parameters. The patterns with a network structure was demonstrated. The results indicated that the voltage amplitude and the pulse frequency could both control the dimensions of droplets and the printing frequency. As future work, we plan to develop a simulation tool to predict printing quality of PDMS and optimize printing process to fabricated 3D PDMS structures in micro scale.