A xurography-based rapid prototyping method to fabricate low-cost high quality metal electrodes

Metal leaves are commercially available as thin films that have a thickness of approximately 100 nm. Metal leaves are used as low-cost conductive films on non-conductive materials. In past, metal leaves have been used on different non-conducting substrates to fabricate electrodes for various applications including sensing, and energy storage. However, most of these studies have either used unpatterned or indirectly patterned metal leaves. Here, a low-cost rapid xurography-based metal leaf patterning method is reported that has achieved a minimum line width of <100 micrometers. The patterned metal leaves were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, white light interferometry and electrochemical techniques. The patterned metal leaves were used to fabricate electrochemical sensors and contact electrodes for chemiresistors.