Printing Nanomaterials with Plasma tagged posts

The nozzle firing a jet of carbon nanotubes with helium plasma off and on. When the plasma is off, the density of carbon nanotubes is small. The plasma focuses the nanotubes onto the substrate with high density and good adhesion. Credit: NASA Ames Research Center

New method can deposit nanomaterials onto flexible surfaces such as paper or cloth and 3-D objects.. The technique could make it easier and cheaper to build devices like wearable chemical and biological sensors, flexible memory devices and batteries, and integrated circuits.

One of the most common methods to deposit nanomaterials- such as a layer of nanoparticles or nanotubes -onto a surface is with an inkjet printer similar to an ordinary printer found in an office. But inkjets can’t print on textiles etc, let alone 3-D objects...