A Fully 3D-printed Integrated Electrochemical Sensor System

This thesis investigates the design, fabrication, and characterization of a 3D printed electrochemical sensor as well as compact potentiostat circuits on Printed Circuit Board (PCB) for portable electrochemical sensing applications. Conductive 3D printing technologies are investigated as well as the advances in sensors and electronics applications. An optimized Directly Ink Writing (DIW) technique is adapted to a novel 3D-PCB fabrication platform using silver nanoparticle ink for electronics applications. An electrochemical device called potentiostat is designed based on an open source system. Its prototype is 3D printed on FR4 substrate. Using the same 3D platform, a lactate sensor which is composed of a 3-electrode is printed on the flexible substrate. Together, the 3D printed system demonstrates the electrochemistry test including cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometry. Results of this research demonstrate that 3D-PCB technology can significantly accelerate the fabrication process of conventional electronic, and merge its capability into electrochemical applications.