Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

We are requesting funding for tools required to prepare, characterize, and pattern functional inks, which will be printed using a novel inkjet micropatterning technique. These tools will enable a number of key interdisciplinary research directions at UBC including a novel plant growth measurement technique using micropatterned arrays of functional dyes on the leaf surface, the development of artificial tissues and organs using inkjet printed cells and intercellular scaffolds for tissue engineering applications, printable chemical sensors for monitoring important airborne precursors to air pollution, printable tire monitoring devices designed to prevent dangerous accidents resulting from tire failures, printable supercapacitors for high-capacity and low-cost energy storage, and novel inkjet-printed transistors for organic electronics. The proposed tools include several inkjet nozzles to print and pattern the various inks using our existing inkjet micropatterning station at UBC, a rheometer to characterize the rheological properties (i.e. viscosity, viscoelasticity, etc.) of the inks thus allowing us to design and optimize the inks for printing, a contact angle measurement tool for characterizing the interactions between the ink and the substrate to ensure that the printed patterns achieve the desired wettability, resolution, and drying pattern for the particular application, and a high precision scale which will be used to accurately weigh nanoparticles and other solids required to create these functional inks. UBC has recently hired several new faculty members in Electrical and Computer Engineering who have significant expertise in micro/nano systems and integration. This shared equipment will facilitate further collaboration between these researchers, build on our existing infrastructure, as well as support a new and powerful interdisciplinary thrust at UBC that will include significant career potential for graduate and undergraduate students trained on this equipment.