Xerox Ink Allows Printing of Electronic Circuits on Plastics

October 28, 2009

Xerox says it has developed a conductive ink that creates a low-cost method to add computing power to plastic and other surfaces. One potential application is a “smart” pill box that tracks how much medication a patient has taken.

One of the technical breakthroughs was development of a conductive ink with a melting point below that of plastic. The silver ink has a melting point of 140C, compared to 267C for polycarbonate. Melting points for commodity plastics, such as polyethylene, are much lower and would not be used with the new inks.

Posted by Doug Smock on October 28, 2009 | Comments (1)

Industries: Software/Hardware, Materials/Fastening

October 31, 2009

In response to: Xerox Ink Allows Printing of Electronic Circuits on Plastics
William Ketel commented:

Depending on how "low cost" the process really is, this could be a quite a "big deal". The challenge will be in connecting the other components. What I see is the possibility of very cheap and quite rugged electronics. I can immediatly see some interesting security products, that if they are cheap enough could change some parts of how we provide security.
Besides that, it would seem that there is less potential for hazardous waste in this process.

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