Drop impact printing.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32859927.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-18103-6 and PMC identifier 7455714.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Hydrodynamic collapse of a central air-cavity during the recoil phase of droplet impact on a superhydrophobic sieve leads to satellite-free generation of a single droplet through the sieve. Two modes of cavity formation and droplet ejection have been observed and explained. The volume of the generated droplet scales with the pore size. Based on this phenomenon, we propose a drop-on-demand printing technique. Despite significant advancements in inkjet technology, enhancement in mass-loading and particle-size have been limited due to clogging of the printhead nozzle. By replacing the nozzle with a sieve, we demonstrate printing of nanoparticle suspension with 71% mass-loading. Comparatively large particles of 20 μm diameter are dispensed in droplets of ~80 μm diameter. Printing is performed for surface tension as low as 32 mNm<sup>-1</sup> and viscosity as high as 33 mPa∙s. In comparison to existing techniques, this way of printing is widely accessible as it is significantly simple and economical.