Interdisciplinary Innovation: Printing Electrodes through the Art of Intaglio
Printing liquid metal conductors that carry electric current using one of the oldest of the traditional printing techniques, intaglio, is the interdisciplinary innovation that happens when researchers and artists collaborate at The University of Alabama.
Intaglio is one the oldest of the traditional printing techniques, dating back to the fifteenth century, but it is an artform that is ever evolving. Today, printing technologies have revolutionized how information is transmitted and one of these new technologies comes in the form of printed electrodes.
Kyle Holland, instructor and studio manager for the Book Arts program in the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), has taught many students how to create their first, hand-printed book, but when he met chemical engineering doctoral student Elizabeth Bury, he found a new way to use the art of intaglio printmaking.
In the Book Arts program, Holland teaches a course titled Letterpress and the Printed Book. The course covers a variety of topics including typography and designing, printing and producing hand-printed books. However, when Holland met Bury, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering who had enrolled in the course, they began to collaborate with a specific goal—to learn how to print electrodes with liquid metal.
Bury’s research uses electrodes for different electronic applications that improve our quality of life.
“We are looking at creating pressure sensors inside of shoes to measure how people walk and decrease their risk of falling. We’re also working with a music professor to develop breathing sensors that will inform singers how to breathe properly,” Bury said.
While Bury specializes in using a liquid metal called galinstan in her research, Holland has knowledge and expertise in printmaking processes and in working with a light-sensitive material called photopolymer, which is commonly used in the courses on letterpress printing in the Book Arts program. When partnered together, the pair worked throughout the course to find a solution to efficiently print electrodes, but the task was not an easy one.
The most effective way to produce electrodes from this metal is through printing, but this comes with many challenges.
“If we look at research literature, it is very hard to print with liquid metal, and oftentimes people use really expensive methods,” Bury said. “My lab group tried to use screen printing with no success, so I wanted to find an alternative method.”
After joining the Collaborative Arts Research Initiative, a UA faculty program that fosters collaboration between arts and sciences, Bury’s research advisor, Dr. Amanda Koh, recommended that she meet with Book Arts faculty to learn about their various printing methods. Holland’s expertise in printmaking immediately stood out. His vast knowledge of printing processes and materials made him vital to the success of this research.
While Holland didn’t have chemical engineering knowledge prior to working with Bury, he was up for the challenge and determined to help find a solution to efficiently print electrodes.
“As a program, we have a broad range of skill sets and experiences that allow us to meet with diverse constituencies like engineering to identify potential areas for collaboration. In this case, we figured out ways to adapt old printing processes to their needs,” Holland said. “I went into this project with ideas of how it could work, but I learned a lot from Elizabeth and her research team.”
We figure out ways to adapt old printing processes to their needs,” Holland said. “I went into this project with ideas of how it could work, but I learned a lot from Elizabeth and her research team.”
Printing liquid metal conductors that carry electric current using one of the oldest of the traditional printing techniques, intaglio, is the interdisciplinary innovation that happens when researchers and artists collaborate at The University of Alabama.
Intaglio is one the oldest of the traditional printing techniques, dating back to the fifteenth century, but it is an artform that is ever evolving. Today, printing technologies have revolutionized how information is transmitted and one of these new technologies comes in the form of printed electrodes.
Kyle Holland, instructor and studio manager for the Book Arts program in the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), has taught many students how to create their first, hand-printed book, but when he met chemical engineering doctoral student Elizabeth Bury, he found a new way to use the art of intaglio printmaking.
In the Book Arts program, Holland teaches a course titled Letterpress and the Printed Book. The course covers a variety of topics including typography and designing, printing and producing hand-printed books. However, when Holland met Bury, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering who had enrolled in the course, they began to collaborate with a specific goal—to learn how to print electrodes with liquid metal.
Bury’s research uses electrodes for different electronic applications that improve our quality of life.
“We are looking at creating pressure sensors inside of shoes to measure how people walk and decrease their risk of falling. We’re also working with a music professor to develop breathing sensors that will inform singers how to breathe properly,” Bury said.
While Bury specializes in using a liquid metal called galinstan in her research, Holland has knowledge and expertise in printmaking processes and in working with a light-sensitive material called photopolymer, which is commonly used in the courses on letterpress printing in the Book Arts program. When partnered together, the pair worked throughout the course to find a solution to efficiently print electrodes, but the task was not an easy one.
The most effective way to produce electrodes from this metal is through printing, but this comes with many challenges.
“If we look at research literature, it is very hard to print with liquid metal, and oftentimes people use really expensive methods,” Bury said. “My lab group tried to use screen printing with no success, so I wanted to find an alternative method.”
After joining the Collaborative Arts Research Initiative, a UA faculty program that fosters collaboration between arts and sciences, Bury’s research advisor, Dr. Amanda Koh, recommended that she meet with Book Arts faculty to learn about their various printing methods. Holland’s expertise in printmaking immediately stood out. His vast knowledge of printing processes and materials made him vital to the success of this research.
While Holland didn’t have chemical engineering knowledge prior to working with Bury, he was up for the challenge and determined to help find a solution to efficiently print electrodes.
“As a program, we have a broad range of skill sets and experiences that allow us to meet with diverse constituencies like engineering to identify potential areas for collaboration. In this case, we figured out ways to adapt old printing processes to their needs,” Holland said. “I went into this project with ideas of how it could work, but I learned a lot from Elizabeth and her research team.”
We figure out ways to adapt old printing processes to their needs,” Holland said. “I went into this project with ideas of how it could work, but I learned a lot from Elizabeth and her research team.”
Printing an electrode began with computer design and ended with liquid metal being pulled from a photopolymer plate. Explore Kyle and Elizabeth's process.
DESIGNING THE ELECTRODE PATTERN
Using Adobe Illustrator, various electrode design patterns were created so they could each be tested in the printing process.
CREATING THE PRINTING PLATE
The electrode patterns were then printed as a negative and exposed on a light-sensitive, photopolymer plate using the Orbital VIII photopolymer plate processing machine.
APPLYING THE METAL
Galinstan (liquid metal) was then piped by hand into the photopolymer plate to test each of the electrode patterns and determine which could deliver the optimum electrode.
CREATING THE ELECTRODE
A polymer disk was placed on top of the photopolymer plate and pressure was gently applied by hand to transfer the liquid metal to the polymer disk, thus creating a printed electrode.
Holland’s knowledge of printmaking processes and his experience is exactly what contributed to their end solution. During one section of his Letterpress and the Printed Book course, Holland instructs all of his students to design and use photopolymer plates. He was able to tailor this lesson to Bury’s research interests by adapting the use of the photopolymer plates and the relief printing process to accommodate printing the liquid metal.
“Relief printing is based on the principle that you have a printing matrix—a block or a plate—and it has high areas and low areas. Typically, ink is applied to the raised areas of the plate, but for this project, we instead used that kind of matrix and put the liquid metal in the crevices,” Holland said. “This method of inking the low areas, rather than the high areas, draws on the inking technique used in intaglio printmaking.”
Bury was able to apply her liquid metal into the photopolymer. Then, using the intaglio printing process, Holland and Bury successfully produced a printed electrode and the innovation of this unique research and artistic collaboration was realized.
“This really drew on my experience with Japanese artist and papermaker Asao Shimura whom I had taken a workshop with years ago on adapting relief printing blocks for different printing processes,” Holland said. “I think this is one example of how our program reaches into our bag of skills and experiences to collaborate with other disciplines across campus.”
Now, Bury is replicating her work with Holland in her own research lab, producing printed electrodes for the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Although they found a solution, the innovative work continues. Bury wants to keep exploring efficient ways to print more electrodes.
“Although I have completed his class, I want to continue learning from Kyle to optimize the best and most efficient ways to print electrodes in the future,” Bury said.
Together, Bury and Holland prove the power of interdisciplinary partnerships. When art and science come together, innovative solutions are born. And these solutions bring positive change to people and communities all over the world.
Holland and Bury collaborate to produce a printed electrode.
Holland and Bury collaborate to produce a printed electrode.
Bury uses a printed electrode in her lab.
Bury uses a printed electrode in her lab.
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