Hybrid piezo-electrostatic inkjet head for printed electronics

Even after the successful demonstration of the electrostatic printing method for the generation of the printed conductive lines, it has not been commercialized until now for printed electronics fabrication. This is mainly because of the application of high voltage for the ejection of the droplet being reported and high throughput. In the study presented in this article, a novel hybrid piezoelectric and electrostatic device is proposed for reducing energy requirements of the electrostatic inkjet head with the help of a pre-developed meniscus through piezoelectric actuation. In the proposed concept, the meniscus is generated at the tip of the electrode and the electrostatic potential applied which has its highest gradient at the electrode apex. Two different arrangements of piezo-actuator installation in the inkjet printing head are analysed. Furthermore, the numerical simulations have been performed to compare the drop size for pre-developed meniscus and electrostatically developed meniscus and cone-jet for the ejection of the drop. It is demonstrated that this approach reduces the size of the droplet considerably and also reduces the electrostatic potential for droplet generation.