Printing electrically conductive patterns on polymeric and 3D-printed systems

Supersonic cluster beam deposition (SCBD) is an additive manufacturing technique that allows the printing of electrically conductive patterns on different kinds of polymeric materials and systems. The high collimation of the supersonic beam makes this technique suitable for micro-patterning and the deposited films are characterized by a porous cluster-assembled morphology and a partial implantation underneath the surface of the polymeric substrates. Thanks to these features, elastic and stretchable polymeric materials can be provided with conductive traces resilient to mechanical deformation and with tailored electrical properties. The metallization of bioplastics, elastomers and ionogels can lead to the development of many advanced materials and devices such as transparent conductive films, strain sensors, soft actuators, supercapacitors and piezoionic elements. Moreover, SCBD can be successfully combined with other 3D printing techniques (such as fused filament fabrication) in view of 3D printed electronics, aiming at the additive manufacturing of devices integrating passive, active and conductive elements freely disposed in a three-dimensional space.