Preparation and stability of PEGDA/GO conductive materials by DLP 3D printing

Abstract

Stable composites of water-dispersed graphene oxide (GO) and UV-cured acrylic resin, poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), were prepared to make printed conductive patterns using a digital light processing (DLP) three-dimensional (3D) printing method. The targeted structures were successfully printed by DLP 3D printing and the electrically conductive properties were obtained by reducing the insulating GO in the composites to reduced GO by chemical and thermal reduction processes. Three basic reduction procedures, pre-thermal, pre-chemical, and post-thermal reduction, were performed to introduce a high conductivity into a printed structure and the lowest resistance was achieved by the pre-thermal reduction in our study. The stability of the printed structures was also evaluated by monitoring the change in resistance with time. The strategy pursued by photopolymerization gives the outstanding features of printed structures for extensive applications in the manufacturing of electronic and sensing devices.