Fabrication of Flexible Electrodes using Inkjet Printer

Abstract

We propose a simple and environment-friendly fabrication method named “Inkjet liftoff method” for preparing film-based electrodes. Metal electrodes for chemical sensors have been fabricated on a transparency film by a kind of liftoff method using an inkjet printer. The whole fabrication process comprises of the steps of: (Step 1) inkjet-printing of the reversal pattern of the electrode on a transparency film, (Step 2) drying of ink, (Step 3) vapor-depositing of metal layers, (Step 4) and removal of the ink together with the upper metal layers of it. The advantage of this method is that the final liftoff step is carried out by simply exposing film to water. To demonstrate the usefulness of this method, we fabricated a glucose sensor.