Three-Dimensional Micro-Patterning by Piezoelectric, Drop on Demand, Polymer Inkjet Printing

Abstract

An inkjet printer is a familiar equipment used in home and office. Most versions of inkjet printers work with only two dimensional (2D) materials, such as color inks. There is a growing interest in its use in non-graphical applications lately because inkjet printing allows the fabrication of complex shapes with features in the 10 100 m range with an aid of computational topology design (CTD). In this study, we demonstrate micro-patterning of various polymers by piezoelectric (PZT) drop on demand (DOD) inkjet printing. The use of polymer inks in inkjet printing makes it possible to produce three dimensional (3D), sophisticated micro-patterned structures. Three dimensional inkjet printing can be termed as freeform fabrication. The fusion of polymer and inkjet technologies offers exciting possibilities to develop 3D printers which can make anything. The applications of polymer micro-patterning by inkjet printing are emerging in various fields such as multicolor polymer light-emitting diode (LED) displays, polymer micro-electronics, tissue engineering scaffolds, and controlled drug release.