Carbon based printed electrodes for DEAs: study of pad, inkjet, and stencil printing

What is it about?

Different printing methods are used in research to fabricate electrodes for dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). In this paper, we compare three printing methods (stencil, pad and inkjet printing) and show the influence of the printing method on the electrode characteristics and the difference in functionality of DEAs which are based on these electrodes. In addition, we provide the recipes of our carbon electrodes for the three printing methods.

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Photo by L N on Unsplash

Photo by L N on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article is intended to serve as a basis for better recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of the various printing processes used for printing stretchable carbon electrodes. In literature, researchers often only deal with individual processes in more detail. However, there is no general comparison between the processes. For this reason, the three printing processes, stencil, pad and inkjet printing, are compared with each other here in order to use as open a decision-making process as possible for the selection of the suitable printing process for the production of DEAs.

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