Conductive inks inkjet technique

There are very few commercial implementations of electrostatic inkjet, though these are increasing. Electrostatic inkjet (of which the most widely known is Tonejet by TTP) is characterized by drops being drawn from an orifice under the influence of an electrostatic field. This field, acting between an electrode and the orifice, attracts free charges within the ink (sometimes described as a liquid toner) to its surface in such a way that a drop is produced when the electrostatic pull exceeds the surface tension of the ink (Fig. 4). As this technique relies on the attraction of free charges, the ink is required to be conductive. 

In conclusion, the huge and rapidly growing markets for printed electronics are providing the motivation for new developments in the field of conductive inkjet materials and technologies. In particular, conductive inkjet inks will find their place in new generation photovoltaics, OLEDs, and flexible consumer products. Inkjet printing of electronics will continue to offer tremendous opportunities in academia and industry in order to solve problems, to improve existing applications, and even to create new apphcations enabled by novel techniques and approaches. 

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