The small print

Using an off-the-shelf inkjet printer, a team of scientists has developed a simple technique for printing patterns of carbon nanotubes on paper and plastic surfaces. The method could lead to a new process for manufacturing a wide range of nanotube-based devices, from flexible electronics and conducting fabrics to sensors for detecting chemical agents.

Most current techniques for making nanotube-based devices require complex and expensive equipment.

‘Our results suggest new alternatives for fabricating nanotube patterns by simply printing the dissolved particles on paper or plastic surfaces,’ said Robert Vajtai, a researcher with the Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Vajtai and his colleagues at Rensselaer, along with a group of researchers at the University of Oulu in Finland, used a commercial inkjet printer to deposit nanotubes onto various surfaces. They filled a conventional ink cartridge with a solution of carbon nanotubes dissolved in water, and then the printer produced a pattern just as if it was printing with normal ink. Because nanotubes are good conductors, the resulting images also are able to conduct electricity.