Printed Electronics Widens Its Scope

Printed electronics has its origins in conductive patterns printed as part of conventional electronics, forming flexible keyboards, antennas and so on. Then came fully printed testers on batteries, electronic skin patches and other devices made entirely by printing, including batteries and displays. A clear next step has been to modernise static print with the e-reader and the talking poster with animated, light emitting display and solar power. These are partly or almost wholly printed, with a clear roadmap to making them lower cost and more reliable and flexible by using printing more fully in their manufacture in future.

Making new products possible

However, we now see printed electronics and electrics certain to penetrate far more applications than anyone realised. For example, large batteries have often used a measure of printing of simple electrodes and connectors but much more sophisticated printing processes are being applied to next generation solid state batteries in such things as power tools and traction batteries for the booming electric car industry, even the electrolyte being deposited by print like processes. An important engine of this dramatic widening of the scope of printed electronics is new materials, particularly relatively low cost, non toxic ones with superlative electronic and electric properties from creation of light to sensing of specific gases and generation of power in various ways. A great deal of work is going on to develop these into electronic healthcare disposables for testing and drug administration, to take just two examples.

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