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speaker

Anna-Marie GORMAN

Position
Principal Scientist – Materials Science at CPI
Entity:
Centre for Process Innovation Limited (CPI)
Country:
UK
Session:
S3: Ink formulations

Speech by Anna-Marie Gorman

[Day 2]
14.10 - 14.55
Theme: Closing the Loop: Sustainable and Cost-Effective Glucose Biosensors Through Circular and Digital Design

Personal Information

Anna has 13 years’ experience in developing inks, coatings and materials for additive manufacturing. Following a BSc from Newcastle University in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry, she completed a masters by research through interrogating the relationship between polymer formulation and process parameters for slot die coating.
During her time at CPI, she has led and contributed to many successful collaborative and commercial projects with industry and academia across a range of applications, including sustainable materials, electronic materials, bioprinting and materials for biomedical application.
Her formulation methodology for material design includes the use of statistical experimental design, a bottom-up approach to formulation, and a safety & sustainability driven approach to raw material selection..

Abstract

Glucose biosensors are widely used in scientific research and health monitoring, with applications including bioprocess monitoring, cell metabolism studies, tissue engineering, and diabetes management.1 These devices often incorporate valuable, high-demand, and environmentally harmful raw materials such as silver and gold.2 Due to their single-use nature, biosensors contribute to significant resource consumption and the disposal of hazardous materials in landfill, largely because of the complexity involved in separating and recovering these raw materials. Additionally, while the devices contain low amounts of metal, their high volume necessitates that any recovery and revalorisation processes be cost-effective to ensure economic viability.

The Sustain-a-Print project3 was established to address this challenge by maintaining the use of high-performance materials essential for sensor functionality, while exploring the integration of bio-based, bio-derived, and biodegradable alternatives where feasible. The project also focused on designing for circularity, enabling the reuse of silver and gold components.

A scalable process was developed to allow screen printing over larger areas, preserving throughput, while high-value layers (e.g., gold) were digitally printed to minimize material waste. Ink binder systems were engineered to permit easy separation via solvent dissolution, facilitating the direct reuse of metallic flakes in subsequent ink formulations. Final devices, fabricated using second-generation silver and gold along with recyclable substrates, demonstrated performance comparable to state-of-the-art glucose sensors. Notably, they achieved over 80% reductions in cost, material usage, and environmental impact across 15 impact categories.