Conductive Nanomaterials in Printed Electronics

Abstract

Printed electronics is based on the application of 2D and 3D printing technologies to fabricate electronic devices. To fabricate the printed electronic 2D and 3D devices with the required performance, it is necessary to properly select and tailor the conductive inks, which are often composed of nanomaterials, The main nanomaterials in conductive inks for 2D and 3D printed electronics contain conductive nanomaterials such as metal nanoparticles (NPs) and nanowires and carbon based nanomaterials: carbon black, graphene sheets, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). All these materials were successfully applied for the fabrication of various electronic devices such as electrical circuits, transparent electrodes, flexible thin film transistors, RFID antennas, photovoltaic devices, and flexible touch panels. In this paper, we focus on the basic properties of these nanomaterials, in view of their application in conductive inks, on obtaining conductive patterns by 2D and 3D printing, and on various methods of post-printing treatment. In the last section, a perspective on future needs and applications will be presented, including emerging technologies.