Y. Harkavyi, K. Giżyński, Z. Rozynek
Adam Mickiewicz University,
Poland
Keywords: conductive micropaths, printing, particle chain, impedance studies, COMSOL
Summary:
Assembly of single-particle thick one-dimensional microstructures on substrates is desired for performing different fundamental studies, and holds promise for a variety of practical applications. This includes electronic applications, i.e., formation of highly conductive electrical paths. There are many approaches for fabrication of such structures, but they are expensive, time-consuming, or inefficient, requiring access to advanced tools and laboratories. Moreover, they are not suitable for fabricating microstructures with programmable shapes, arbitrary lengths, and positioning. Here we report a method that overcomes these limitations and facilitates the continuous production of particle paths outside bulk liquid on various substrate materials and morphologies, using a variety of particle materials with wide size range. The method is simple yet robust and easy to implement, and is straightforwardly scalable, involving a synergetic action of electric-field assembly, capillary and electrostatic interactions [1]. Using our developed method, we fabricated micropaths of different widths, height-to-width ratio, and the magnitude of electrical conductivity. The obtained results from impedance studies are showing big potential in their future applications and are in good agreement with theoretical calculations. References: [1] Z.Rozynek, M.Han, F.Dutka, P.Garstecki, A.Józefczak, E.Luijten. Formation of printable granular and colloidal chains through capillary effects and dielectrophoresis. Nature Communications. 2017.