According to reports, scientists at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom have utilized the "wonder material" graphene "ink" to print flexible circuits made of graphene for the first time using an ordinary home printer, a breakthrough that could help scientists create wearable electronic devices on a large scale and cheaply. The latest research breakthrough could help scientists create wearable electronic devices on a large scale and cheaply.
Now, a team of researchers led by Andrew Ferrari has created a graphene "ink" and printed these thin-film circuits using a modified Epson printer. They took out a piece of graphene, cut it into many tiny flakes and dissolved it in N-methylpyrrolidone, after which they put the solution into an ink cartridge and used the printer to print it out. The new technology is a big step forward, and this time the printed graphene transistors are lighter, more conductive, stable and cheaper.
Graphene is a two-dimensional crystal made of carbon atoms stripped from graphite material, only one layer of carbon atoms thick, is the thinnest and hardest material to date, and its electrical and thermal conductivity is super strong, far more than silicon and other traditional semiconductor materials. Scientists believe that graphene is expected to revolutionize the field of materials science, the future is expected to replace silicon as electronic component materials, widely used in supercomputers, flexible touch screen, environmental protection and medical equipment, photonic sensors and organic solar cells and many other fields.
The above report comes from OFweek Electronics Engineering. The real popularization and application may take a number of years.