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iniewski
Great observation Dr Quine!
DrQuine
Technology has almost come full circle: we started printing with graphite ...
Graphene printed via ink-jet, ups mobility
Peter Clarke
11/28/2011 8:17 AM EST
LONDON – Researchers from the University of Cambridge have reported the ink-jet printing of graphene circuits, thereby demonstrating the suitability of graphene inks for flexible and transparent electronics. The simple use of a graphene-based ink and modified but standard ink-jet printers could bring closer the possibility of flexible, low-cost wearable computing devices, the researchers said.
The ink-jet printing of semiconducting polymer materials is well known for the large-area production of transistors, displays, photovoltaic devices, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, the electron mobilities of these materials are still much lower than standard silicon technology. The use of metal oxides and carbon nanotubes has been proposed to improve this but it usually comes at the cost of complexity in terms of adding stabilizer processes. By contrast graphene is a 2-D form of carbon in a single molecular layer that is the world's strongest and most conductive material.
The research team, led by Andrea Ferrari, made the ink by removing microscopic flakes from a block of graphite and suspending them in N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP). The use of NMP minimizes the "coffee mug ring" effect that occurs when some solvents evaporate. The team was able to print structures down to 90 -micron line widths and 90-nm thickness and below. The liquid-phase exfoliation (LFE)graphene-ink is described as a low-cost way to print thin-film transistors for flexible and transparent electronics.
The work was reported in the arXiv publication on condensed matter materials science.
Related links and articles:
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1111/1111.4970v1.pdf
IEDM: IBM to report 2-GHz graphene IC
Researchers unlock spintronics in graphene
Graphene research wins Nobel prize
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wilber_xbox
11/28/2011 12:17 PM EST
it still boils down to the performance of the graphene circuit.
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chanj
11/28/2011 12:22 PM EST
Wearable electronics is one great innovation. The ease of prototyping may benefit more people. The question is how much a 3x3 real-printed circuit board will cost.
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iniewski
11/28/2011 4:25 PM EST
This technology has probably a long way to go until potential commercial appeal but it looks very promising...Kris
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docdivakar
11/28/2011 4:46 PM EST
@PeterClark: timely article... the Printed Electronics conference starts at Santa Clara tomorrow. I was privy to a news brief by Dr. Cathleen Thiele of IDTechEx who says Vorbeck Materials Inc. will have their patented Graphene-based electronic ink will appear in major retail stores sometime in late 2011 (we are there almost!). I will keep you posted most likely with an article on EE Times (if you are going to attend, please let me know, we can meet F2F!).
Dr. MP Divakar
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peter.clarke
11/29/2011 5:08 AM EST
Unfortunately I won't be in Santa Clara for Printed Electronics.
Still here in wintery old England.
But I will try and check out Vorbeck Materials Inc.
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EREBUS
11/28/2011 5:01 PM EST
I agree that the technology has a way to go, but that said, it has been a long time since I such a potential game changing technology as Graphene. Only time will tell if it fulfills its promises.
Cool stuff thought.
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LarryM99
11/28/2011 6:58 PM EST
Combine this with home 3D printers and one day some percentage of the manufacturing infrastructure could be replaced. Throw in Arduino and other open-source designs and things really get interesting.
larrym
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epiper
11/29/2011 3:24 AM EST
Wow! Printing 90nm and below using a modified standard inkjet printer. That should get them the Nobel Prize. Surely there must be an error of several orders of magnitude in this? Even 90um width is still impressive.
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peter.clarke
11/29/2011 5:04 AM EST
My mistake, That should read 90-micron line width and 90-nm thickness. It has now been corrected.
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DrQuine
12/1/2011 6:29 PM EST
Technology has almost come full circle: we started printing with graphite (pencils) as children and will now be printing electronic circuits using graphene. "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"
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iniewski
12/2/2011 11:00 AM EST
Great observation Dr Quine!
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