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Printing with Satellite Droplets
Author(s) -
Zhang Yanzhen,
Li Dege,
Liu Yonghong,
Wittstock Gunther
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201802583
Subject(s) - body orifice , meniscus , materials science , inkwell , nanotechnology , current (fluid) , satellite , microfluidics , composite material , optics , mechanical engineering , geology , aerospace engineering , physics , engineering , oceanography , incidence (geometry)
Despite their specific methodologies, all current noncontact printing techniques such as inkjet printing (IJP), involve the break‐up of a liquid meniscus during the separation of the ink droplet from the bulk ink reservoir. Often, the break‐up of a liquid meniscus results in the formation of one or more satellite droplet whose volumes are several orders of magnitude smaller than the primary droplet. Many attempts are directed to suppress or control the formation of satellite droplets because they blur the printing result. For the first time, a simple mechanism by which a single satellite droplet is exclusively formed and directed to the substrate by a gas stream while the primary droplet remains attached to a metal rod used for controlling the formation and break‐up of the meniscus is reported. High printing resolution is demonstrated by satellite droplets printing (SDP) without the need for small orifices which are prone to clogging. Furthermore, the droplet generation from a large orifice enables SDP to handle viscous inks which has remained challenging for traditional IJP.