Inkjet Printable Polydimethylsiloxane for All-Inkjet-Printed Multilayered Soft Electrical Applications

Abstract

In recent years, additive manufacturing of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has gained interest for the development of soft electronics. To build complex electrical devices, fabrication of multilayered structures is required. We propose here a straightforward digital printing fabrication process of silicone rubber-based, multilayered electronics. An inkjet-printable PDMS solution was developed for the digital patterning of elastomeric structures. The silicone ink was used together with a highly conductive silver nanoparticle (Ag NP) ink for the fabrication of all-inkjet-printed multilayered electrical devices. The application of the multilayered circuit board was successful. The sheet resistances were below 0.3 ω/□, and the conductive layer thickness was less than 1 μm. The electrical insulation between the conductive layers was done by printing a 20-25 μm-thick dielectric PDMS layer selectively on top of the bottommost conductive layer.