Elastomers and, in particular, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are widely adopted as biocompatible mechanically compliant substrates for soft and flexible micro-nanosystems in medicine, biology, and engineering. However, several applications require such low thicknesses (e.g., <100 μm) that make peeling-off critical because very thin elastomers become delicate and tend to exhibit strong adhesion with carriers. Moreover, microfabrication techniques such as photolithography use solvents which swell PDMS, introducing complexity and possible contamination, thus limiting industrial scalability and preventing many biomedical applications. Here, we combine low-adhesion and rectangular carrier substrates, adhesive Kapton frames, micromilling-defined shadow masks, and adhesive-neutralizing paper frames for enabling fast, easy, green, contaminant-free, and scalable manufacturing of thin elastomer devices, with both simplified peeling and handling. The accurate alignment between the frame and shadow masks can be further facilitated by micromilled marking lines on the back side of the low-adhesion carrier. As a proof of concept, we show epidermal sensors on a 50 μm-thick PDMS substrate for measuring strain, the skin bioimpedance and the heart rate. The proposed approach paves the way to a straightforward, green, and scalable fabrication of contaminant-free thin devices on elastomers for a wide variety of applications.

Criscuolo, V., Montoya, N.a., Lo Presti, A., Occhipinti, L.g., Netti, P.a., Vecchione, R., et al. (2020). Double-Framed Thin Elastomer Devices. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES, 12(49), 55255-55261 [10.1021/acsami.0c16312].

Double-Framed Thin Elastomer Devices

Falconi, Christian
2020-01-01

Abstract

Elastomers and, in particular, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are widely adopted as biocompatible mechanically compliant substrates for soft and flexible micro-nanosystems in medicine, biology, and engineering. However, several applications require such low thicknesses (e.g., <100 μm) that make peeling-off critical because very thin elastomers become delicate and tend to exhibit strong adhesion with carriers. Moreover, microfabrication techniques such as photolithography use solvents which swell PDMS, introducing complexity and possible contamination, thus limiting industrial scalability and preventing many biomedical applications. Here, we combine low-adhesion and rectangular carrier substrates, adhesive Kapton frames, micromilling-defined shadow masks, and adhesive-neutralizing paper frames for enabling fast, easy, green, contaminant-free, and scalable manufacturing of thin elastomer devices, with both simplified peeling and handling. The accurate alignment between the frame and shadow masks can be further facilitated by micromilled marking lines on the back side of the low-adhesion carrier. As a proof of concept, we show epidermal sensors on a 50 μm-thick PDMS substrate for measuring strain, the skin bioimpedance and the heart rate. The proposed approach paves the way to a straightforward, green, and scalable fabrication of contaminant-free thin devices on elastomers for a wide variety of applications.
2020
Pubblicato
Rilevanza internazionale
Articolo
Esperti anonimi
Settore ING-INF/01 - ELETTRONICA
English
Con Impact Factor ISI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c16312
Criscuolo, V., Montoya, N.a., Lo Presti, A., Occhipinti, L.g., Netti, P.a., Vecchione, R., et al. (2020). Double-Framed Thin Elastomer Devices. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES, 12(49), 55255-55261 [10.1021/acsami.0c16312].
Criscuolo, V; Montoya, Na; Lo Presti, A; Occhipinti, Lg; Netti, Pa; Vecchione, R; Falconi, C
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2108/266018
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