From Inspiration to Realization—How Nanotube Hybrids Can Make the Best Printed Electronics You'll Never See

There are many materials in the world that are conductive and there are many materials in the world that are transparent, but there are a precious few that are both. As consumers increasingly demand electronics that are as easy and intuitive to use as a smartphone, engineers and product designers are challenged to find suitable materials to successfully satisfy conflicting design requirements for next-generation electronic devices. To give products a more natural appearance and feel, industrial designers, favor organic shapes having a stylized sculpted from natural to the touch. As with smartphones, user experience designers prefer touch screens and smart surfaces for their simplicity and being naturally intuitive to use.

Finally, a “smart” device requires a control system and a control system requires circuits to sense and provide feedback. Combined, these design requirements have pushed incumbent materials for transparent electronics such as indium tin oxide beyond their performance limit and opened an opportunity for a new category of a transparent conductive film (TCF) known as Nanotube Hybrids. The presentation compares and contrasts commercially available alternative TCFs and processes that drive forward the industry and enable new applications. Unique performance characteristics of Nanotube Hybrid materials will be explained along with how they can be cost-effectively pattern at scale. Several case studies will be described illustrating a variety of applications.