New Graphene-Based Ink Used for High-Speed Manufacturing of Printed Electronics (VIDEO)

First Posted: Oct 20, 2015 11:23 AM EDT
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New graphene-based inks could be used for high-speed manufacturing of printed electronics. Researchers have come up with a low-cost, high-speed method for printing graphene inks.

The new method actually allows graphene and other electrically conducted materials to be added to conventional water-based inks and printed using typical commercial equipment. This is the first time that graphene has been used for printing on a large-scale commercial printing press at high speed.

So why is this such a big deal? Graphene is, essentially, the wonder material of the future. It's a two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms that are just one atom thick. Its flexibility, optical transparency and electrical conductivity make it suitable for a wide range of applications, including printed electronics.

"We are pleased to be the first to bring graphene inks close to real-world manufacturing," said Tawfique Hasan, one of the researchers, in a news release. "There are lots of companies that have produced graphene inks, but none of them has done it on a scale close to this. Being able to produce conductive inks that could effortlessly be used for printing at a commercial scale at a very high speed will open up all kinds of different applications for graphene and other similar materials."

In fact, this new method may allow researchers to put electronic systems into unexpected shapes. This, in particular, makes it an extremely flexible technology.

The findings could be huge for the future of electronics. Currently, the new ink is still being tested. But it could, in theory, be used on a large scale for biosensors and RFID tags.

Want to learn more? Check out the video below.

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