Themed collection Nanomaterials for printed electronics

Guest Editors Cinzia Casiraghi, Oana D. Jurchescu, Shlomo Magdassi and Wenming Su introduce the themed collection on Nanomaterials for printed electronics.

This review focuses on the recent advances in the application of nanomaterials for 3D printed electronics, demonstrating conductive paths, electronic and photonic components, energy devices or sensors with perspectives for future developments.

The failure modes when printing stretchable electronics using nano/micro composite ink was summarized and strategies for tackling these challenges to realize reliable performances are proposed and discussed.

This review analyzes recent developments in the emerging field of printed flexible mechanical sensors. While the field has recently boomed with well performing sensors, systematic ways to print these devices with desired properties are still unclear.

This article reviews the strategies and applications of transfer printing techniques for soft electronics, including their working mechanisms and demonstrations in nanomaterial assembly, curvy electronics, bioelectronics and 3D integrated electronics.

Recent advances in printing and patterning self-assembled peptide nanostructures are highlighted. Ice lithography, which thus far has not been applied to biological macromolecules, is promising for functionalizing and patterning peptides.

The approaches to ameliorate the sensitivity and stability of OFET biochemical sensors have been reviewed, focusing on material and device engineering to enhance the sensing properties of SEs and the transduction efficiency of printable OFET.

This review summarizes the development of copper inks in printing electronics, including classification of inks, printing and sintering methods, antioxidant strategies, and applications for flexible electronics.

Melanin–TiO₂ nanostructured molecular junctions with enhanced photochemical dynamics for optoelectronic and bioelectronic applications.

A platform for edible transistors is presented, comprising a chitosan-based gating medium, an ethylcellulose substrate, and printed gold electrodes.

Inkjet-printed h-BN memristors exhibit multiple stochastic phenomena that are very attractive for use as entropy sources in electronic circuits for data encryption. The high variability can be exploited to create unique and unpredictable patterns.

A new low-cost, nontoxic, flexible GeSn mid-infrared resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetector with enhanced optical responses via strain and vertical cavity effects is developed to address the need for large-area, integrated mid-infrared flexible optoelectronics.

Non-ionic polar side chains are leveraged in the molecular design of conjugated polymers to create stable surfactant-free polymer nanoparticle dispersions. An organic electronic device is prepared by processing the nanoparticles directly from water.

Bi₂Te₃ nanoplates were synthesized to develop a water-based nanomaterial ink for a gravity-independent method of additive manufacturing. By optimization of the plasma-jet printer, deposited N-type thermoelectric legs showed significant flexibility.

TiO₂ nanosheets are produced with a mass scalable and F-free bottom-up approach. The material is formulated into a stable water-based ink and exploited in printed diodes and transistors, showing very good dielectric properties.

The continuous spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has highlighted the need for simple and reliable diagnostic technologies for point-of-care (POC) virus detection applications.

The flow of the research on screen-printed e-textile with biocompatible materials, which was used for clinical trials on ICU admitted patients and correlated data of clinical and electrochemical impedance studies.

A universal roll-to-roll printing approach was developed to achieve large area semiconducting carbon nanotube thin films on flexible substrates, and printed flexible carbon-based electronics exhibited good electrical properties.

The spatial and surface coverage reliance of plasmonic Au nanoparticles is controlled by a roll-to-roll compatible ultrasonic spray coating technique, providing enhanced electroluminescence, luminous efficacy and external quantum efficiency.

Herein, a low-temperature space-confined technique (LT-SCT) was developed to fabricate pure-phase (FASnI₃)_0.1(MAPbI₃)_0.9 single crystals with excellent optical and electronic properties for high-performance near-infrared photodetectors.

Lab-on-printed circuit board platform for scalable electrochemically-gated graphene field effect transistors test strips, measuring pH and Na⁺ ion concentration.

All-printed organic electrochemical transistors based on a hydrogel electrolyte show high stretchability and long term stability.

This paper reports an eco-friendly method for screen printing of silver nanowires on a diverse range of substrates with high resolution and high electric conductivity. A low annealing temperature makes the method compatible with plastic substrates.

A 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) memristor with inkjet-printed silver electrodes is fabricated for ultra-stable random telegraph noise and connected to a custom, low-cost true random number generator fabricated using commercial components.

This article reports on humidity sensors based on molecular rectifiers. Their operation relies on modifications in the height and shape of the tunneling barrier upon absorption of water molecules.

Flexible resistive temperature sensors with tunable temperature coefficient of resistance and sensitivity fabricated by aerosol jet printing with hybrid nanomaterial inks.

Using computer simulations and theory, we explain the unexpected formation in poor solvents of extended rod-like semiconducting-polymer aggregates, which are correlated with enhanced electron mobility but are not predicted by existing theories.

Incorporating gas-assisted drying with laboratory-scale blade-coating of organic semiconductors yields full performance parity with spin-coated devices and enables simultaneous spatial patterning of active layer microstructure.

Random polymers with different surface electrostatic potential were obtained by introducing the structural units of polymer PM6 into the polymer structure as the third unit, providing a new perspective for the molecular design of random polymer.

All-solution-processed PeQLEDs are developed by interfacial passivation with an electron transporting material containing a PO group, revealing bright green emission with a promising external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 6.47%.

The hydrogel-based printing strategy was proposed to fabricate the high-performance flexible thermoelectric generators with the high-power density, where the stable water-locking network can limit the fluidity of the pastes.

Ionic gate dielectrics for all-printed CNT-TFTs show promise for low-voltage operation and this work reveals important trade-offs in performance and stability based on composition.

Non-intrusive sensors that can be attached to marine species offer opportunities to study the impacts of environmental changes on their behaviors and well-being.

Solution-processed vertical metal–semiconductor-metal devices are fabricated with liquid-exfoliated tungsten disulfide nanosheets, which exhibit bulk- or electrode-limited behaviors depending on the details of the top electrode.

The 3D sub-nanometre distribution of individual dopant species in organic semiconductors determines the electrical properties. The distribution and cluster shape have been determined by electron tomography and shown to depend on dopant concentration.

An efficient prototype for manufacturing the isotropic/anisotropic circuits is demonstrated through the template-assisted printing strategy, which achieves a remarkable on/off ratio over 10¹¹.

High-performance fully printed organic electrochromic devices were realized based on an optimized UV curable solid-state electrolyte.

Networks of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are used as the transducing layer for sensors based on water-gated transistors.

Titanium hydride nanoinks are made by ball milling activated powders and tuned for aerosol jet printing. Photonic curing sinters nanoparticles to improve electrical conductivity, providing a viable route to diverse functionality in printed devices.

Plasma sintering particle-based Au grids yields conductors with Au shell and hybrid core. Defects that dominate the performance change with particle concentration and type. Wires are less prone to disruptive defects and thus outperform spheres.