Patterning Conductive Aluminium onto Temperature Sensitive Polymers and Tattoo Paper at Room Temperature and Pressure
Abstract
Currently patterning conductive metal onto thermally fragile substrates remains hindered by the necessary processing conditions required. Aluminium is an attractive conductor for printed electronics, being non-toxic, low cost, having high abundance, while providing excellent electrical conductivity. Here, we report the direct deposition of conductive aluminium lines onto a selection of heat sensitive substrates; namely dissolvable tattoo paper, and a Polyborosiloxane (PBS)/Sylgard blend substrate at room temperature and atmospheric pressure using an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and an ethereal solution of dimethylethylamine alane (DMEAA) as a metal-organic precursor ink. Unlike conventional metal-organic decomposition methods that require thermal post-treatment, the non-equilibrium plasma drives precursor fragmentation, ligand removal, and metallic film formation in a single step without external substrate heating. Optimised tracks were produced on dissolvable tattoo paper yielding a best sheet resistance of 1.59 ± 0.64 kΩ/sq due to its metallic nature. The tracks were deposited directly onto dissolvable tattoo paper, and sufficiently conductive to complete a functional electrical circuit allowing it to be transferred to skin, demonstrating a viable route to low-temperature aluminium metallisation on porous substrates.
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BibTeX
@misc{li2026patterning,
title = {{Patterning Conductive Aluminium onto Temperature Sensitive Polymers and Tattoo Paper at Room Temperature and Pressure}},
author = {Zhengyuan Li and Shreya Mrig and Wanqi Zhang and Mingyu Zhou and Simon Bulou and Nicolas D. Boscher and Bob C. Schroeder and Adam J. Clancy and Daren J. Caruana and Caroline E. Knapp},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010889/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010889/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Patterning Conductive Aluminium onto Temperature Sensitive Polymers and Tattoo Paper at Room Temperature and Pressure
AU - Zhengyuan Li
AU - Shreya Mrig
AU - Wanqi Zhang
AU - Mingyu Zhou
AU - Simon Bulou
AU - Nicolas D. Boscher
AU - Bob C. Schroeder
AU - Adam J. Clancy
AU - Daren J. Caruana
AU - Caroline E. Knapp
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010889/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010889/v1
AB - Currently patterning conductive metal onto thermally fragile substrates remains hindered by the necessary processing conditions required. Aluminium is an attractive conductor for printed electronics, being non-toxic, low cost, having high abundance, while providing excellent electrical conductivity. Here, we report the direct deposition of conductive aluminium lines onto a selection of heat sensitive substrates; namely dissolvable tattoo paper, and a Polyborosiloxane (PBS)/Sylgard blend substrate at room temperature and atmospheric pressure using an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and an ethereal solution of dimethylethylamine alane (DMEAA) as a metal-organic precursor ink. Unlike conventional metal-organic decomposition methods that require thermal post-treatment, the non-equilibrium plasma drives precursor fragmentation, ligand removal, and metallic film formation in a single step without external substrate heating. Optimised tracks were produced on dissolvable tattoo paper yielding a best sheet resistance of 1.59 ± 0.64 kΩ/sq due to its metallic nature. The tracks were deposited directly onto dissolvable tattoo paper, and sufficiently conductive to complete a functional electrical circuit allowing it to be transferred to skin, demonstrating a viable route to low-temperature aluminium metallisation on porous substrates.
ER -