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Updated: Sep 27, 2025
Planar and Three-Dimensional Printing of Conductive Inks
Published on: December 9, 2011
Mapping the Volume Transfer of Graphene-Based Inks with the Gravure Printing Process: Influence of Rheology and
Ahmad Fakhari1,2, Célio Fernandes3, Francisco José Galindo-Rosales2,4
1Transport Phenomena Research Center (CEFT), Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
Abstract:
It is a common practice to add rheology modifiers to functional inks, such as graphene inks, to optimize the rheological properties so that they can be printed with a certain printing technique. This practice may lead to inks formulations with poorer electrical, optical, and mechanical performance upon its application, which are of paramount importance in printed electronics. In this study, we demonstrate for three different commercial graphene-based inks that it is possible to control the amount of ink transferred to the flat surface by tweaking printing parameters, such as the velocity and the length scale of the gravure cell, without modifying the rheology of the ink. Finally, the results are summarized in printing maps based on dimensionless numbers, namely, the capillary and Reynolds numbers.
