Printing Nanostructures with a Propelled Anti-Pinning Ink Droplet

Striving for cheap and robust manufacturing processes has prompted efforts to adapt and extend methods for printed electronics and biotechnology. A new 'direct-write' printing method for patterning nanometeric species in addressable locations has been developed, by means of evaporative deposition from a propelled anti-pinning ink droplet (PAPID) in a manner analogous to a snail-trail. Three velocity-controlled deposition regimes have been identified; each spontaneously produces distinct and well-defined self-assembled deposition patterns. Unlike other technologies that rely on overlapping droplets, PAPIDs produce continuous patterns that can be formed on rigid or flexible substrates, even within 3D concave closed shapes, and have the ability to control the thickness gradient along the pattern. This versatile low cost printing method can produce a wide range of unusual electronic systems not attainable by other methods.