SUTD: Rahul Karyappa, Terry Ching and Michinao Hashimoto
The new method, embedded ink writing (EIW), enables direct writing of polysiloxane which helps in the fabrication of microfluidic devices, flexible wearables, and soft actuators.
Concept of embedded ink writing (EIW). A polysiloxane ink is printed by a direct ink writing (DIW) 3D printer in Newtonian fluids as embedding media. The surrounding liquid media allow the inks to maintain larger contact angles (> 100o) on the substrates. Inks for EIW can be functionalized by suspending functional microparticles (e.g., embedding thermochromic leuco dye microparticles).
Polysiloxane is an elastic polymer which is widely used in fluidics, optics, and biomedical engineering. It offers desirable properties for microfabrication due to its castable and curable properties.
You can find more details at https://www.sutd.edu.sg/Research/Research-News/2020/5/SUTD-print-planar-microstructures-polysiloxane