New Graphene Based Ink for High Speed Manufacturing of Electronics

Developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Cambridge-based technology company Novalia, by applying NMP solvent to large flakes of Graphene, this ink can be used in consumer grade inkjet printers such as Epson Stylus 1500 cartridges without clogging them. This allows for high speed printing of Electronic circuits such as a paper thin MIDI controller, at a cost which is much lower than that of the current practice of using big industrial printers for such jobs. So in near future if you want a device, you can just design and print it yourself right at your desk. Not only large scale manufacturers but anyone with a compatible desk printer can create circuits with this tech. Using this ink, researchers have managed to print thin film transistors on silicon base.

 

Science daily reports- 'Researchers from Aneeve Nanotechnologies, a startup company at UCLA's on-campus technology incubator at the California Nano Systems Institute (CNSI), have used low-cost ink-jet printing to fabricate the first circuits composed of fully printed back-gated and top-gated carbon nanotube based electronics for use with OLED displays. The team made carbon nanotube thin film transistors with high mobility and a high on-off ratio, completely based on ink-jet printing. They demonstrated the first fully printed single-pixel OLED control circuits, and their fully printed thin-film circuits showed significant performance advantages over traditional organic based printed electronics.'

References:
1) http://www.printedelectronicsworld.com/articles/4119/graphene-inks-at-university-of-cambridge

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