Scientists recently reported in ACS Applied Electronic Materials they have devised low-cost conductive inks for clog-free ballpoint pens, or that can enable users to 'write' circuits nearly anywhere, including human skin.
Essentially, conductive ink is an ideal tool for printing on surface, flexible electronic circuits. However, these particular inks can be costly, and they are not applicable to certain materials. More so, the devices need to apply the ink can plug up.
An article posted on EurekAlert specified that flexible electronics are extensively used in applications like "biosensors, electronic skin and energy storage."
Recent developments to produce such tools include pens that can draw circuits on surfaces minus the need for a printer.
Such pens can draw an assortment of textures, and some can even write on irregular or rough surfaces not suitable for printing.
What Conductive Ink Generally Does
Science Direct describes conductive ink as the most essential element in printing metallic structures. The said source also specifies that multiple conductive materials can be regarded for this purpose, including "conductive polymers, carbon, organic or metallic compounds, metal precursors and metal NPs. More often than not, conductive inks are based on metal NPs.
The reason for that is that the materials' resistivity is close to that of bulk material, about two to three times higher, opposite the conductive polymers, which have higher resistivity.
Alternatively, the use of metallic or organic compounds necessitates an additional heat treatment to reduce antecedents to metallic species.
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