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Distribution of inkjet ink components via ToF‐SIMS imaging
Author(s) -
Filenkova A.,
Acosta E.,
Brodersen P. M.,
Sodhi R. N. S.,
Farnood R.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.3352
Subject(s) - inkwell , cationic polymerization , solvent , pulmonary surfactant , adsorption , chemical engineering , secondary ion mass spectrometry , absorption (acoustics) , materials science , chemistry , nanotechnology , polymer chemistry , chromatography , organic chemistry , mass spectrometry , composite material , engineering
Abstract To optimize the performance of the inkjet printing process it is of significant importance to have greater understanding of the spatial arrangement of not only ink colourant, but also other ink components such as surfactant, solvent and/or cosolvent. In this work, the capabilities of Time‐of‐Flight (ToF) SIMS are applied to study the spreading (xy distribution) of a custom inkjet ink formulation, containing cationic crystal violet dye, ethoxylated surfactant and ink vehicle/solvent marked by lithium salt on uncoated and coated papers. High spatially resolved images obtained by ToF‐SIMS clearly illustrate differentiation of individual ink components, with irregular spreading on uncoated paper leading to poor edge definition, and as a result, poor print quality. ToF‐SIMS images and distribution profiles of ink components on ‘best’ and ‘worst’ commercial paper samples show that the cationic dye is preferentially adsorbed by both substrates, colocalizing with the surfactant. However, the solvent, marked by lithium salt, spreads 20% more than cationic dye on coated paper, and 25% more than the dye on uncoated paper. The variability in preferential absorption of ink components due to morphology, chemistry and topography of paper, may be taken as an indication of print quality. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.