Electrohydrodynamic Printing of Nanoparticle-Based Silver Inks: A Study Towards Fabrication of Skin-Like Wearable Devices

Abstract:
An integration of biophysiological detection and sensing mechanisms in skin-like, wearable devices has paved the way to visionary non-invasive applications for health monitoring and motion detection over the last years. These technological achievements can be traced back to the utilization of cutting-edge printing techniques and the processing of functional ink materials allow for an enhanced fabrication of flexible sensor elements, electrodes or interconnections. The present work aims at an experimental and numerical study to investigate the electric field-induced patterning of a high-performance silver nanoparticle ink on novel heat-resistant thermoset substrates with a temperature tolerance up to ∼ 300deg C by means of the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing technology in its continuous jet mode. In this way, a promising approach for the manufacturing of customized, next-generation skin-conformable sensors is successfully demonstrated.