Advanced carbons in conductive inks

Carbon nanotubes and graphene are the most significant in-scope materials in conductive inks, printed into flexible circuits, biosensors, RFID antennas, photovoltaic contacts and membrane switches. They conduct at lower loadings than carbon-black inks while offering flexibility and printability, and single-wall CNTs add a transparency option above 80 percent at 550 nanometres for touch-sensor overlays.

In printed photovoltaics, graphene and CNT inks form front-side contact grids that can cut silver loading in hybrid metallisation by 30 to 40 percent. CNT inks also print electrochemical sensing electrodes onto disposable strips for glucose, lactate and pathogen detection, and resistive inks create Joule-heating layers in heated garments.

Silver still dominates the conductive-inks market overall, and carbon-black inks lead the broader carbon-ink total, both outside or alongside ACC's in-scope set. ACC tracks the producers, the science and the market behind conductive-ink carbons so members can see which applications are scaling and which remain early.