Thermal inkjet microdeposition of PEDOT:PSS on ITO-coated glass and characterization of the obtained film

In view of direct inkjet printing of low-cost sensors, we describe here the thermal printing of a thin film of a commercially available conjugated polymer (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonic acid, PEDOT:PSS). The printed film has been investigated by optical microscopy, AFM and cyclic voltammetry. The results have been compared to the ones obtained for a continuous film of the same polymer deposed by spin-coating. No appreciable differences were noted between the electrochemical behaviour of the two samples, indicating that the thermal printing of the polymer did not alter appreciably the material properties. Our findings indicate that the thermal priming route may be then a good alternative for the controlled deposition of thin films of conjugated polymers. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.