Inkjet printed thin-film electro-adhesive device: manufacturing and characterization

This paper describes the development of an electro-adhesive gripper with silver interdigitated electrodes that are inkjetprinted on a pre-fabricated flexible dielectric film made of polyether ether ketone (PEEK), which also acts as the gripper adhering surface, and encapsulated in a blade-casted silicone elastomer backing layer. After a description of the manufacturing approach, the paper presents and discusses the results of the electro-mechanical characterization of two fabricated nominally identical electro-adhesive devices, by specifically focusing on: electrically-induced adhesion shear stress, capacitance variation, energy and power consumption.