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I am looking to make metallic ink for inkjet printing and using PEO 1 wt% (MW ~600,000) as a binder. The print head I am hoping to use has a nozzle diameter of 80 microns. The metal powder dispersed in the ink is ~100nm. If I dissolve the PEO into deionized water, will the PEO particles be too big to pass through the nozzle? The PEO purchased is from sigma aldrich (https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/182028?lang=en&region=IE)

(Physicist asking a chemistry question!)

Thanks :)

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PEO is very soluble in water. At 1 wt% concentration, you should expect it to be individual molecules throughout the solution. A PEO molecule with MW of 600,000 has ~13,600 repeating units. You can imagine them to be roughly ~200 nm blobs calculated based on the radius of gyration of a linear polymer in a good solvent.

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