Functional Inks: Formulation, Characterization and Printing Techniques
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Composites".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2023) | Viewed by 17251
Special Issue Editor
Interests: complex fluids; rheology; printing techniques
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Printed electronics are being used nowadays in many commercial applications, such as photovoltaic solar bus bars, glucose test strips, force sensors, touch screen electrodes, membrane circuits, and heating elements. These devices have been dominated by metal and metal-oxide-semiconductors, which present difficulties regarding the design of transparent and flexible electronics, heat management, and rapid device customization. Because of their unique structural features and outstanding properties, i.e., electronic properties combined with enormous mechanical flexibility and optical transparency, 2D nanomaterials have become a key class of materials in the development of the next generation of functional inks for printed electronics. Very recently, new water-based and high-concentration inks formulated with 2D materials, including conductors, semiconductors, and insulators, have been reported in the literature. As their morphology differs from the usually applied particles, their behaviour in suspensions also differs, thus affecting the printability, which is a crucial parameter to be understood in order to scale-up for industrialization. Their current limitation comes from the use of solvents to formulate stable dispersions with adequate fluidic properties. The current situation is paradoxical—the rheological properties are improved by adding chemicals that are to the detriment of the electro/mechanic/optical properties required by printed electronics. Thus, the right combination of formulation for the inks, the rheological behaviour, and the selected printing technique is of paramount importance in order to ensure printability and functionality.
This Special Issue is expected to gather contributions that describe the recent results on the formulation, rheological characterization, and printing techniques of functional inks that can provide any kind of improvement towards the printability and final properties of printed electronics.
Dr. Francisco José Galindo-Rosales
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- functional inks
- formulation
- rheology
- printing techniques
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