Stable large area drop-on-demand deposition of a conductive polymer ink for 3D-printed electronics, enabled by bio-renewable co-solvents

Geoffrey Rivers, Jonathan S. Austin, Yinfeng He, Adam Thompson, Negar Gilani, Nathan Roberts, Peng Zhao, Christopher J. Tuck, Richard J.M. Hague, Ricky D. Wildman, Lyudmila Turyanska

    Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Development of conductive polymer ink formulations with reliable jetting stability and physical properties could offer sustainable routes for scaling-up the 3D-printing of electronics. We report a new poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulphonate (PEDOT:PSS) ink formulation, InkCG, using bio-renewable solvents dihydrolevoglucosenone (cyrene) and glycerol carbonate (GC) as an alternative to commonly used dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). These green organic co-solvents enhance jetting reliability and long-term stability of the ink and improve electrical properties of the deposited PEDOT:PSS layers, compared to the commonly used DMSO-containing ink formulations. We achieve large-area and high-fidelity electronic devices (array of 140 devices) with reproducible electrical performance through inkjet-based 3D printing. Enhanced performance stability is observed under cyclic bending, thermal annealing, UV or IR exposure, offering exciting opportunities for sustainable deposition of PEDOT:PSS for large-area 3D printing and its exploitation in heterostructures and flexible electronics.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number103452
    JournalAdditive Manufacturing
    Volume66
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 25 Mar 2023

    Keywords

    • Conductive polymers
    • Heterostructures
    • Inkjet printing
    • Large scale array
    • PEDOT:PSS

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Biomedical Engineering
    • General Materials Science
    • Engineering (miscellaneous)
    • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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