Conductive Nanomaterials for Printed and Flexible Electronics Application

Printed electronics (PE) technology is a highly matured technology borrowed from the printing industry. PE is a set of printing methods to create electrical devices on various flexible substrates. PE typically uses standard printing equipment suitable for defining patterns on material, using techniques such as screen printing, flexography, gravure, offset lithography, and inkjet. Electrically conductive, dielectric or insulating inks are deposited on the substrate to fabricate active or passive devices.PE offers a significant advantage compared to traditional processes or microelectronics due to its versatility, low manufacturing cost and the possibility of producing flexible circuit components. It starts with formulating a suitable functional ink by selecting appropriate filler nanomaterials such as carbon-based, metallic or polymeric composites and blending them with proper solvent materials. This chapter discusses printed electronics technology and its fields of implantation and different printing technologies. The chapter also provides an overview of varying nanomaterial inks such as metallic, organic and ceramics, followed by the synthesis procedures of specific nanomaterials such as silver-based nanomaterials, 1D and 2D carbon-based nanomaterials.