Inkjet-Printing of Nanoparticle Gold and Silver Ink on Cyclic Olefin Copolymer for DNA-Sensing Applications

Abstract

Inkjet technology as a maskless, direct-writing technology offers the potential for structured deposition of functional materials for the realization of electrodes for, e.g., sensing applications. In this work, electrodes were realized by inkjet-printing of commercial nanoparticle gold ink on planar substrates and, for the first time, onto the 2.5D surfaces of a 0.5 mm-deep microfluidic chamber produced in cyclic olefin copolymer (COC). The challenges of a poor wetting behavior and a low process temperature of the COC used were solved by a pretreatment with oxygen plasma and the combination of thermal (130 • C for 1 h) and photonic (955 mJ/cm 2 ) steps for sintering. By performing the photonic curing, the resistance could be reduced by about 50% to 22.7 µΩ cm. The printed gold structures were mechanically stable (optimal cross-cut value) and porous (roughness factors between 8.6 and 24.4 for 3 and 9 inkjet-printed layers, respectively). Thiolated DNA probes were immobilized throughout the porous structure without the necessity of a surface activation step. Hybridization of labeled DNA probes resulted in specific signals comparable to signals on commercial screen-printed electrodes and could be reproduced after regeneration. The process described may facilitate the integration of electrodes in 2.5D lab-on-a-chip systems.

Inkjet Printing: A Viable Technology for Biosensor Fabrication

“…Inkjet printing technology allows for the use of a wide variety of inks and for low-temperature printing [215] that supports the use of thermally unstable compounds [216]. The non-contact, maskless, and direct writing capability of inkjet printing enables or allows for (i) combinatorial studies of various devices [217], (ii) CAD data modifications, without the need to change the master template, (iii) a low risk of contamination, (iv) precise spatial control, (v) the use of both solid and flexible substrates, and (vi) the printing of functional materials on 2.5D and 3D surfaces [218]. Inkjet-printing can also be employed as an etch-dispensing process that allows for the use of very small portions of the pre-deposited materials at levels not achievable by its close competitors [219].…”

Bio‐Derived Natural Materials Based Triboelectric Devices for Self‐Powered Ubiquitous Wearable and Implantable Intelligent Devices

“…Inkjet printing has recently attracted intensive attention in processing energy devices, sensors and printed electronics due to its capability to cost-effectively and rapidly print designer features with versatile materials. [243][244][245][246][247][248] Inkjet printing technologies include two main types: thermal and piezoelectric prints. [244,[249][250][251][252][253][254] For thermal print, a thin film resistor in the thermal print head is used to heat the ink to form a vapor bubble, forcing the droplets out of the nozzle.…”

“…[244,255,256] Inkjet printing has been used for printing a broad range of device applications such as light-emitting diodes, conductive structures, sensors, solar cells, thin-film transistors, memory devices and biological/pharmaceutical fields (e.g., inkjet-printed immunological drug screening kit) etc. [243,[246][247][248][257][258][259][260][261] In addition, inkjet printing has been used for prototyping triboelectric devices. [128,245,[262][263][264] For example, Zhou et al [264] developed a transparent and flexible TENG device, which consists of an inkjet-printed Ag film electrode with hole patterns and a PDMS triboelectric layer.…”

Overcoming Variability in Printed RF: A Statistical Method to Designing for Unpredictable Dimensionality

“…DW manufacturing in particular has expanded rapidly alongside increasing demand or flexible, embedded, and low-cost electronic components. Benefits of DW processes have encouraged a variety of deposition methods including micropen dispensing [4,5], aerosol jetting [6,7], ink jetting [8][9][10][11][12][13], stereolithography [14][15][16], and metal embedding [17][18][19][20][21][22]. These methods Designs 2022, 6, 13 2 of 13 can utilize materials as varied as metals, plastics [23], battery materials [24,25], and even organics [26].…”