Patterning Conductive Aluminium onto Temperature Sensitive Polymers and Tattoo Paper at Room Temperature and Pressure
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Currently patterning conductive metal onto thermally fragile substrates remains hindered by the necessary processing conditions required. Aluminium is an attractive conductor for printed electronics, being non-toxic, low cost, having high abundance, while providing excellent electrical conductivity. Here, we report the direct deposition of conductive aluminium lines onto a selection of heat sensitive substrates; namely dissolvable tattoo paper, and a Polyborosiloxane (PBS)/Sylgard blend substrate at room temperature and atmospheric pressure using an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and an ethereal solution of dimethylethylamine alane (DMEAA) as a metal-organic precursor ink. Unlike conventional metal-organic decomposition methods that require thermal post-treatment, the non-equilibrium plasma drives precursor fragmentation, ligand removal, and metallic film formation in a single step without external substrate heating. Optimised tracks were produced on dissolvable tattoo paper yielding a best sheet resistance of 1.59 ± 0.64 kΩ/sq due to its metallic nature. The tracks were deposited directly onto dissolvable tattoo paper, and sufficiently conductive to complete a functional electrical circuit allowing it to be transferred to skin, demonstrating a viable route to low-temperature aluminium metallisation on porous substrates.
Source: ChemRxiv
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223180205