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The increasing use of printing technologies for the manufacturing of sensors, electronic circuits, conductors, other functional layers, etc. is a trend in current manufacturing environments. Hence, printing technologies have been utilized as a tool to deposit certain amounts of functional material on various substrates to gain a new quality in regard to cost effectiveness and production volume. Most of the already presented approaches are lab-based – only a few are already in the market. In this paper, we elucidate how inkjet technology and machine development of large area manufacturing technology employed for the printing of functional layers with the aim of technical applications are utilised. We describe the workflow for the manufacturing of fully printed microsieves providing the functionality porosity to be integrated in applications of filtration. Another example given is the manufacturing of batteries based on printing techniques in a pilot production line, with a push button printed complementary and SMD-LEDs mounted during assembly.

Printing since many years has been a well-known high throughput technology for producing replications of graphic arts entities (texts, images, aesthetics, gloss and physical impressions) over large varieties of substrates which are dedicated for various needful applications like newspapers, magazines, posters, official documents, packages, braille, textiles, decorative articles and many more. Due to the fact, that printing is a liquid-solution based replication process, where basic ink and substrate are needed, it is now not only limited to printing of graphic arts. Whenever an ink is deposited over a defined substrate and the process can be multiplied, it can be termed as printing and once the final product contains a functionality other than graphic arts application, it can be called as “Printed Functionality”. Some examples for printed functionalities can be found in the following fields: A. Printed electronics (using inks having electronic properties); B. Printed micro-fluidics (using inks having polymeric and elastic properties for directive purposes); C. 3-Dimensional printing (using inks containing binding properties for developing three dimensional structures); D. Printed photonics (using inks having self-assembling properties for building-up symmetric micro-structures); E. Printed pyroelectrics (using inks containing thermally flammable properties); F. Printed ceramics (using inks with ceramic particles) and G. Printed optics and functional surfaces (using inks with transparency, absorbency and reflective properties). All these mentioned applications require functional inks which in turn exhibits some physical-chemical properties e.g. particle size, particle loading, fluid’s rheological properties etc. These properties determine the feasibility of the material’s deposition (in this case the functional inks) with a suitable printing technology. The inkjet printing technology among others has several advantages such as contactless deposition processability, d

Ein bedeutender Punkt in der Brennstoffzellentechnologie ist der Einsatz von platinhaltigen Elektroden, welche die Brennstoffzellentechnologie zu einer teuren Technologie macht. Zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt werden die katalytischen Schichten in großen Maßstäben als Endlos-Elektroden produziert, was dazu führt, dass die einzelnen Elektroden für die Stacks ausgeschnitten und hierbei viel nicht genutztes Elektrodenmaterial, sprich Abfall entsteht. Dieser kann später recycelt werden, jedoch ist eine 100 %ige Rückgewinnung der eingesetzten Rohstoffe nicht möglich. Die Drucktechnik bietet eine Möglichkeit diese Entstehung von Abfall zu vermeiden. Mittels der verschiedenen Drucktechnologien, wie z. B. Inkjet-, Tief- und Siebdruck ist es möglich Elektroden mit gezielten Geometrien zu fertigen, sprich die Elektrodenschichten werden genau an die Erfordernisse angepasst. Der Aufbau von Multilagen ist präzise möglich und es können MEA´s (Membran-Electrode Assembly) mit scharfen, klar abgegrenzten Kanten erstellt werden. In diesem Paper werden Ergebnisse der Inkjet- und Tiefdrucktechnologie vorgestellt, sowie deren Charakterisierung. Da bereits kleinste Unregelmäßigkeiten in den Elektroden zu einem Ausfall des Systems führen können, werden die katalytischen Schichten mittels Oberflächenprofilometer (Veeko Dektak 150) auf ihre Homogenität untersucht. Darüber hinaus werden die Leitfähigkeiten (SÜSS Microtec PM5 Probe System) und die Haftung der gedruckten Schichten in Abhängigkeit von der Drucktechnologie betrachtet., An important point in fuel cell technology is the use of platinum-containing electrodes, which makes fuel cell technology an expensive technology. At present, the catalytic layers are produced on a large scale as continuous electrodes, which results in the individual electrodes being cut out for the stacks, resulting in a lot of unused electrode material, i.e. waste. This can be recycled later, but 100 % recovery of the raw materials used is not possible. The printing technology offers a possibility to avoid this generation of waste. Using the various printing technologies, such as inkjet, gravure, and screen printing, it is possible to produce electrodes with specific geometries, i.e. the electrode layers are precisely adapted to the requirements. The construction of multilayers is precisely possible and MEA's (Membrane Electrode Assembly) with sharp, clearly defined edges can be created. This paper presents the results of inkjet and gravure printing technology and their characterization. Since even the smallest irregularities in the electrodes can lead to system failure, the homogeneity of the catalytic layers is examined using a surface profilometer (Veeko Dektak 150). In addition, the conductivities (SUSS Microtec PM5 Probe System) and the adhesion of the printed layers will be examined as a function of the printing technology.