Morphology of printed lines and droplet deposits using hydrophilic nanoparticle suspensions

Abstract

This paper focuses on the morphology of continuous mode printed lines of a generic polymer suspension. The suspension consists of carboxylate nanoparticles. The printing is performed by forming a stable capillary-bridge of the suspension between the print-nozzle and glass substrate. The printed deposits are examined microscopically. The printing technique used here is easy to implement and allows a wider property window for the fluids that can be printed compared to drop on demand mode printing. The morphology of these printed lines is found to be dependent on the number of layers of the nanoparticles present. To further understand the fundamental mechanism of printed nanoparticle deposit morphology development, droplet deposits of the suspension are also prepared and analyzed.