Numerical Study on the Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing

Abstract

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing is an alternative method to fabricate high-resolution micro- and nanostructures with high efficiency, low cost, and low pollution. Numerical simulation is an effective approach to systematically investigate the formation process of EHD jet. However, there are a few articles performing this work. In this study, a finite element model was established. The jet formation process and jetting modes were analyzed. The influence of applied voltage and printing distance on the maximum electric field near the nozzle tip was investigated. The effect of flow rate on the jet diameters was studied. Comparison between numerical and experimental results demonstrated that the proposed simulation model had a high potential for EHD jet analysis. According to the optimized printing conditions (printing distance of 200–300 μm, applied voltage of ∼1100 V, and flow rate of 0.1–0.3 ml/h), stable EHD jet can generate and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) lines with minimum line-width of 0.9 μm can be printed onto the glass slide.