Materials Research Bulletin, Vol.84, 437-444, 2016
Controlling micro ceramic patterns via multiple/sequential drop-on-demand inkjet printing of dilute colloidal suspensions
Drop-on-demand (DOD) inkjet printing has great potential for fabricating miniature ceramic devices that are currently constructed by more complicated, time consuming, and costly procedures. In this study, micro La(0.6)Sr(0.4)Feo(0.8)CO(0.2)O(3) (LSFC) patterns are crafted via DOD inkjet printing. A dilute solid-solvent colloidal ink suspension composed of LSFC, a common solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathode material, suspended in a-terpineol solvent, was printed with multiple, sequential inkjet passes. Critical process parameters were identified and tuned to achieve acceptable layer to layer deposition accuracy. Micro 0-D dots and micro 1-D lines with x/y dimensions <100 mu m and z-axis dimensions <1 mu m were demonstrated. Addition of ethyl cellulose to the ink resulted in unique 'volcano' features which may benefit miniature SOFCs with a density shift between the feature's center and ridge. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords:Microstructure;Ceramics;Deposition;Electrochemical properties;Thin films;Electron microscopy