[en] Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing technology is an attractive method for micro-scale electronic device fabrication. The primary advantage of EHD jet printing compared with conventional inkjet printing is the capability to print at resolutions below 10 µm and to eject high-viscosity ink. In this study, by using drop-on-demand (DOD) jetting, we printed silver (Ag) dots onto a silicon (Si)-wafer and evaluated the dot uniformity. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of substrate surface energy and substrate temperature on the dot morphology. We also investigated the effects of overprinting on the dot morphologies. Our results show that we successfully created uniform dot patterns under 10 µm by using EHD jet printing. In addition the dot diameter approached 14 µm while the substrate was heated up to 40 °C. We also found that on the hydrophobic Si-wafer, increasing the substrate temperature and the number of overprinting could be used as an alternative method for increasing the aspect ratio of dot and suppressing the coffee-stain effect. (paper)

[en] Recently, the three-dimensional (3D) printing technique has received much attention for shape forming and manufacturing. The fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer is one of the various 3D printers available and has become widely used due to its simplicity, low-cost, and easy operation. However, the FDM technique has a limitation whereby its patterning resolution is too low at around 200 μm. In this paper, we first present a hybrid mechanism of electrohydrodynamic jet printing with the FDM technique, which we name E-FDM. We then develop a novel high-resolution 3D printer based on the E-FDM process. To determine the optimal condition for structuring, we also investigated the effect of several printing parameters, such as temperature, applied voltage, working height, printing speed, flow-rate, and acceleration on the patterning results. This method was capable of fabricating both high resolution 2D and 3D structures with the use of polylactic acid (PLA). PLA has been used to fabricate scaffold structures for tissue engineering, which has different hierarchical structure sizes. The fabrication speed was up to 40 mm/s and the pattern resolution could be improved to 10 μm. (paper)

[en] Invisible Ag mesh transparent electrodes (TEs), with a width of 7 μm, were prepared on a curved glass surface by electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing. With a 100 μm pitch, the EHD jet printed the Ag mesh on the convex glass which had a sheet resistance of 1.49 Ω/□. The printing speed was 30 cm s"−"1 using Ag ink, which had a 10 000 cPs viscosity and a 70 wt% Ag nanoparticle concentration. We further showed the performance of a 3-D transparent heater using the Ag mesh transparent electrode. The EHD jet printed an invisible Ag grid transparent electrode with good electrical and optical properties with promising applications on printed optoelectronic devices. (technical note)

[en] Inspired by nature, flapping-type tidal stream generators have been introduced in recent years. The improvement in their power generation ability is known to be a critical factor in the success of these generators. So far, corrugation and camber observed in flying insects and swimming animals are known to enhance the performance of a flapping-type propulsive system. In this study, we explore the effect of corrugation and camber in a system that mimics a scallop shell in terms of its ability to extract flow energy through a two-dimensional Navier–Stokes simulation. The simulations show that the size and the activity of the leading edge vortex are strongly affected by the morphological factors of the mimicked foils, the effects of which are then advantageous in terms of the power efficiency of the flapping-type tidal stream generator. Eventually, an optimal mimicked foil, as suggested based on the morphological effects, would be a good alternative type of foil with a typical section with regard to the hydrodynamic performance and structural properties of tidal stream generators. (paper)

[en] There has been significant recent interest in micro-nano robots operating in low Reynold's number fluidic environments. Even though recent works showed the success of controlling micro-nano robots, there are some limitations because of the tracking method. In this paper, we introduce and implement a feature-based tracking method (FTM). Scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) is a well-explored technique at much larger length scales for research fields regarding robotics and vision. Here, the technique is extensively investigated and optimized for microbiorobots (MBRs) in low Reynold's number environments. Also, we compare the FTM with the conventional tracking method for cells, which is known as the region-based tracking method (RTM). We clearly show that the FTM can track more accurate positions of the objects in comparison with the RTM in cases where objects are in close contact or overlapped. Also, we demonstrate that the FTM allows tracking microscopic objects even though illumination changes over time or portions of the object are occluded or outside the field of view.

[en] Invisible Ag-grid transparent electrodes (TEs) were prepared by electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing using Ag nano-particle inks. Ag-grid width less than 10 µm was achieved by the EHD jet printing, which was invisible to the naked eye. The Ag-grid line-to-line distance (pitch) was modulated in order to investigate the electrical and optical properties of the EHD jet-printed Ag-grid TEs. The decrease in the sheet resistance at the expense of the transmittance was observed as the Ag-grid pitch decreased. The figure of merit of Ag-grid TEs with various Ag-grid pitches was investigated in order to determine the optimum pitch condition for both electrical and optical properties. With the 150 µm Ag-grid pitch, the EHD jet-printed Ag-grid TE has the sheet resistance of 4.87 Ω sq⁻¹ and the transmittance of 81.75% after annealing at 200 °C under near-infrared. Ag filling factor (FF) was defined to predict the electrical and optical properties of Ag-grid TEs. It was found that the measured electrical and optical properties were well simulated by the theoretical equations incorporating FF. The EHD jet-printed invisible Ag-grid TE with good electrical and optical properties implies its promising application to the printed optoelectronic devices. (paper)

[en] We demonstrated the fabrication of terahertz metamaterial sensor for the accurate and on-site detection of yeast using electrohydrodynamic jet printing, which is inexpensive, simple, and environmentally friendly. The very small sized pattern up to 5 µ m-width of electrical split ring resonator unit structures could be printed on a large area on both a rigid substrate and flexible substrate, i.e. silicon wafer and polyimide film using the drop on demand technique to eject liquid ink containing silver nanoparticles. Experimental characterization and simulation were performed to study their performances in detecting yeast of different weights. It was shown that the metamaterial sensor fabricated on a flexible polyimide film had higher sensitivity by more than six times than the metamaterial sensor fabricated on a silicon wafer, due to the low refractive index of the PI substrate and due to the extremely thin substrate thickness which lowers the effective index further. The resonance frequency shift saturated when the yeast weights were 145 µ g and 215 µ g for metamaterial structures with gap size 6.5 µ m fabricated on the silicon substrate and on the polyimide substrate, respectively. (paper)

[en] The aim of this work is to provide an insight into the aerodynamic performance of the beetle during takeoff, which has been estimated in previous investigations. We employed a scaled-up electromechanical model flapping wing to measure the aerodynamic forces and the three-dimensional flow structures on the flapping wing. The ground effect on the unsteady forces and flow structures were also characterized. The dynamically scaled wing model could replicate the general stroke pattern of the beetle's hind wing kinematics during takeoff flight. Two wing kinematic models have been studied to examine the influences of wing kinematics on unsteady aerodynamic forces. In the first model, the angle of attack is asymmetric and varies during the translational motion, which is the flapping motion of the beetle's hind wing. In the second model, the angle of attack is constant during the translational motion. The instantaneous aerodynamic forces were measured for four strokes during the beetle's takeoff by the force sensor attached at the wing base. Flow visualization provided a general picture of the evolution of the three-dimensional leading edge vortex (LEV) on the beetle hind wing model. The LEV is stable during each stroke, and increases radically from the root to the tip, forming a leading-edge spiral vortex. The force measurement results show that the vertical force generated by the hind wing is large enough to lift the beetle. For the beetle hind wing kinematics, the total vertical force production increases 18.4% and 8.6% for the first and second strokes, respectively, due to the ground effect. However, for the model with a constant angle of attack during translation, the vertical force is reduced during the first stroke. During the third and fourth strokes, the ground effect is negligible for both wing kinematic patterns. This finding suggests that the beetle's flapping mechanism induces a ground effect that can efficiently lift its body from the ground during takeoff. (paper)

[en] We present an improvement in the electrical properties of silica nanotubes by coating metal nanoparticles on their surfaces. The silica nanotubes are formed from bacterial flagella bio-templates having a tubular structure. Successive depositions of metal nanoparticles on the silica nanotubes are performed through easily functionalized silica surfaces. The results show uniform metal nanoparticle sizes and a high surface area coverage. By incorporating gold, palladium and iron oxide nanoparticles, the metallized silica nanotubes gain electrical properties with the potential to create unique nanoelectronic materials. In this study, the metallized silica nanotubes with network structures are aligned and their electrical behaviors are investigated in both dry and wet conditions. The metallized silica nanotubes are found to be electrically conductive along the network structures. The current–voltage characteristics show remarkably improved electrical conductivities depending on the type of metal nanoparticle loading and nanotube network concentration. (paper)

[en] A coffee-ring pattern can be yielded on the three-phase contact line following evaporation of sessile droplets with suspended insoluble solutes, such as particles, DNA molecules, and mammalian cells. The formation of such coffee-ring, together with their suppression has been applied in printing and coating technologies. We present here an experimental study on the assembly of silver nanowires inside an evaporating droplet of a colloidal suspension. The effects of nanowire length and concentration on coffee-ring formation of the colloidal suspension were investigated. Several sizes of NWs with an aspect ratio between 50 and 1000 were systematically investigated to fabricate coffee-ring patterns. Larger droplets containing shorter nanowires formed clearer ring deposits after evaporation. An order-to-disorder transition of the nanowires’ alignment was found inside the rings. A printing technique with the evaporation process enabled fabrication of arrays of silver nanowire rings. We could manipulate the patterns silver nanowire rings, which might be applied to the transparent and flexible electrode. (paper)