Breakthrough 3D printing with inkjet-printed graphene
A new study from Nottingham University has discovered how to use inkjet-printed graphene to 3D-print novel electronic devices with useful properties, such as an ability to convert light into electricity.
The £5.85m, EPSRC-funded project was carried out by engineers at the Centre for Additive Manufacturing and physicists at the School of Physics and Astronomy.
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Researchers found that it is possible to jet inks, containing tiny flakes of 2D materials such as graphene, to build up and mesh together the different layers of these complex customised structures. They also used quantum mechanical modelling to pinpoint how electrons move through the 2D material layers, to understand how the devices can be modified in the future.
Co-author Professor Mark Fromhold, head of the School of Physics and Astronomy, said: “According to the laws of quantum mechanics, in which the electrons act as waves rather than particles, we found electrons in 2D materials travel along complex trajectories between multiple flakes. It appears as if the electrons hop from one flake to another.”
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