Screen printed conductive pastes for biomedical electronics

This paper describes the evaluation of screen printed materials fabricated with an additive manufacturing process for flexible biomedical applications. Five different conductive polymeric thick film pastes, printed on a polyimide substrate have been investigated. For the intended biocompatible applications, the cytotoxicity of the used materials was tested through adherent cell test. Furthermore, the electrical resistance, the printed structure thickness, the surface energy and roughness have been examined. Additionally, the mechanical resilience of the printed materials was tested through a bending test. During the bending the electrical resistance of printed meander structures could be monitored indicating failures. Two out of five materials were qualified as non-toxic, all of the materials are useable for flexible electronics, as they provide good electrical and mechanical properties.