Screen-Printing for Producing Electrochemical Sensors

Screen-printing involves the movement of a thixotropic fluid through a mesh screen, which defines the shape and size of the desired electrode, on to the desired substrate material beneath. The thixotropic fluid contains a variety of substances typically including graphite, carbon black, solvents, and polymeric binder with the exact constituents and ratios 

Conventionally, these elecPodes are utilised in aqueous solutions, but as there are many applications in non-aqueous systems, it is useful for screen-printed elecPodes to operate in this type of media, but such designs are yet to be fully realised [79]. 

The effect of mechanical stress on screen-printed sensors fabricated upon differing electrode substrates has been studied by Wang et al. [80]. The different substrates utilised within the study included Mylar, polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) and Kapton. In this instance, the bending of the electrodes to extremely small radii of curvature was determined to have minimal effect upon the electrochemical behaviour, resulting in only a small increase in the electrical resistance of the sensors. Additionally, the study determined that the electrochemical signal was not adversely impacted from cyclic bending this illustrates the robust nature of screen-printed electrodes upon flexible substrates [80], 

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