Printed, Flexible and Organic Electronics

Researchers from multiple disciplines are working together to develop bioelectronics that can detect diseases, treat cancers and track marine animals; they may even discover the next generation of computing systems.\r\n

A research collaboration has found that old newspapers can be used as a low cost, eco-friendly material on which to grow single walled carbon nanotubes on a large scale.

Engineers have made a breathable material that is both highly stretchable and has good electrical conductivity, making it promising for on-skin electronics for people and wiring for robots.

Researchers have improved on a transparent, conductive coating material, producing a tenfold gain in its electrical conductivity. When incorporated into a type of high-efficiency solar cell, the material increased the cell's efficiency and stability.\r\n\r\n

The 6th Innovations in Large-Area Electronics Conference (innoLAE) returns to the Wellcome Genome Campus Conference Centre, Cambridge, UK on 21-22 January 2020, to deliver a programme highlighting the most innovative and exciting aspects of large-area electronics (LAE) - a new way of making electronics which includes printable, flexible, plastic, organic and bio- electronics.

'Origami robots' are state-of-the-art soft and flexible robots that are being tested for use in various applications including drug delivery in human bodies, search and rescue missions in disaster environments and humanoid robotic arms.

Wood fibres are being used by researchers to create a new class of stronger and lower-cost electrodes for even lighter and long-lasting flexible electronics and wearables.

Versatile compounds called perovskites are valued for their application in next generation solar energy technologies. Despite their efficiency and relative cheapness, perovskite devices have yet to be perfected; they often contain atomic-level structural defects.

At the 16th IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA conference and exhibition held in Santa Clara on November 20-21, three organizations were honored for their great achievements in developing and commercializing printed electronics technologies.