Introducing the TechBlick USA Program: Material Innovations | Copper inks, liquid metal, printable BP inks, sustainable PCBs, printed EAPs, high-temperature inks, printable nickel structures, etc
- khashayar Ghaffarzadeh
- Apr 30
- 6 min read
TechBlick's The Future of Electronics RESHAPED USA - Why Should You Join Us?
The Future of Electronics RESHAPED USA (Boston, 11 & 12 June 2025) is less than 6 weeks away. It features a world-class agenda with over 70 presentations covering exciting material breakthroughs, process innovations, manufacturing advances, application developments, and product launches.
This is the only event in North America dedicated to additive, printed, sustainable, hybrid, wearable and 3D electronics. See the program here.
In this article series, we highlight various talks in the program, outlining the technologies and applications that will be showcased. In a previous article we highlighted some process innovations that will be showcased (see here).
In this particular article, we focus on some of the material innovations that will be showcased in the program from around the world, featuring copper inks and molecular ink systems, liquid metal materials and applications, sustainable PCBs, printable EAPs, high temperature inks, printable nickel and more. In subsequent articles, we cover further material, process and application innovations that will be showcased in the program.
Copper Innovations
Copper has long been considered an attractive alternative to silver in conductive inks due to its inherent cost advantages as well as its compatibility with IPC standards for reliable solder joints. However, it has not been an easy path developing a copper ink/paste that prints well, dries/cures within normal conditions and is stable and oxidation free.
At the Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Boston (11&12 June 2025) we will highlight a novel of innovations advancing copper ink/paste technology
Priways (Japan): Minari-san will report on a novel approach to forming air stable and highly conducting copper-nickel complex inks. Here, Cu-Ni inks can form uniform Cu@Ni core-shell nanostructures by a self-assembling process, resulting in the nickel coating on the surface. Thus, the addition of nickel overcomes the weakness of conventional copper inks, achieving high oxidation resistance and high electrical conductivity. The formed Cu-Ni wiring shows high conductivity of 10 μΩ cm and the high oxidation resistance can be maintained at 180°C. This is a novel and promising approach to achieving air stable copper inks.
University of Maryland (USA): Most nanomaterial based copper inks are highly susceptible to oxidation. Here, Prof. Ren reports on their work developing a printable copper precursor-based ink based on molecular decomposition. This approach not only results in high performance copper materials, but also gives rise to printed structures that can remain stable for long periods even under extreme conditions such as 1000C. This demonstrates a promising approach to the development of printable stable copper inks.
Copprint (Israel): This team has long developed a screen printable copper ink system that can meet many commercial requirements such as low-temperature and rapid sintering, stability and even solderability, making it a viable commercial choice in printed electronics and even additive PCB production. Here Dr Grouchko will offer a masterclass where you can learn about practical techniques and tips for applying and adopting copper inks, even in existing lines. You will learn important insights about scale up of copper ink production. Finally, you will learn about a large array of applications in which copper inks deliver value together with supporting data. These applications range from wafer-based PV to RFID to aluminium based LED boards and beyond.
Liquid Metals
Liquid metals are an emerging class of materials in flexible, stretchable and soft electronics with unique properties, including extremely high stretchability, self healing, etc. At the Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Boston (11&12 June 2025) we will highlight the following advances.
Satosen (Japan): The increasing demand for flexible and wearable devices necessitates the development of circuit boards capable of withstanding significant mechanical deformation. Traditional PCBs struggle to maintain conductivity and structural integrity under strain, limiting their applicability in dynamic environments. Here, Satosen reports on a unique approach to deploying liquid metals to form stretchable PCBs. Here, the liquid metal traces are encapsulated within a flexible substrate. This approach offers significant advantages in terms of durability, stretchability and conformability compared to conventional rigid or flexible PCBs. The inherent fluidity of the conductive traces allows for dynamic reconfiguration of the circuit pathways, enabling new possibilities for adaptive electronics. In general, this approach can truly change the design and fabrication of wearable electronics, biomedical devices, and soft robotics.
North Carolina State University (USA): Dr. Dickey is a pioneer in the field and will present a new useful property of gallium-based liquid metals: ability to print conductive thin oxides! In general, an oxide layer rapidly forms on gallium based liquid metals, giving them the ability to be shaped. Dr. Dickey will report on a method to separate the oxide, offering a way to directly deposit 2D-like oxides at ambient conditions without vacuum processing. These oxides are surprisingly also conductive. This is an innovative material development, important for electronics, sensors, optics, and touch screens.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (USA): Multimodal Glove and Sleeve Human Machine Interfaces can have many use cases including multimodal sensing of human intent and motion; AR/VR/XR immersion; human-robot teleoperation and collaboration (i.e. human-machine integration); control of exoskeletons; and human performance/health monitoring. However, such systems require very stretchable electronics. Here, Dr. Rao reports on how they integrate printed liquid metal conductors into stretchable fabric garments to achieve this. Furthermore he reports on the progress towards printing of fine-line and fine-pitch stretchable circuits, as well as attachment and encapsulation of surface-mount integrated circuits and passive components onto these circuits. This talk demonstrates how the printed liquid metal technology is advancing and opening new applications.
Other Exciting Innovations
Sustainable PCB substrates | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA): e-waste presents a significant environmental challenge due to the non-degradable nature and limited recyclability of conventional polyimide (PI)-based substrates. In Boston, Dr Wallin from MIT will report the design and synthesis of a family of photopatternable, degradable polyimide network substrates that maintains high mechanical and electronic performance for reprocessible flex electronic circuitry. These materials exhibito desirable thermal and mechanical properties as well as stable dielectric value suitable for flexible electronics. Furthermore, the material can be used to form multilayered circuits surviving the solder reflow process. These materials are an important step in improving the sustainability of the PCB and flexible hybrid electronics industry.
Printable black phosphorus inks for optoelectronic devices | Irisi Light Technologies (USA): Black phosphorus (BP) has emerged as a promising two-dimensional material due to its unique properties, including a tunable bandgap, high carrier mobility, and strong light-matter interaction. The development of scalable synthesis routes has enabled the production of black phosphorus inks in large quantities, making them suitable for industrial applications. This talk reports on synthesis, characterization, and device applications for BP photonic devices. Furthermore, it reports how BP photonic inks were utilized in the fabrication of optoelectronic devices using aerosol jet printing. Example devices include pn diodes and photodetectors. This opens up avenues for the realization of flexible and wearable electronics, as well as the development of low-cost sensors for environmental monitoring and healthcare applications.
Printable Nickle Structures| New Mexico State University (USA): Dr Mahajan will report on a method for creating aligned nickel (Ni) nanoparticles with unique and customizable structures on various substrates for electronic and magnetic applications. The ink can be printed in ambient conditions, and upon heating in the presence of a magnetic field, it forms aligned elemental Ni nanostructures over large areas. The use of templates or subsequent purification is not required. This technique is very flexible and allows the preparation of unique patterns to produce structures with enhanced anisotropic electrical, magnetic, and thermal properties.
Resistive Inks for High-Temperature Applications| Vibrantz Technologies (USA): Aerospace and defense industry requires thick film solutions for specialty low-thermal expansion substrates that can withstand high operating temperatures. Such thick film pastes are not easy to formulate and are not readily available. Vibrantz Technologies reports a package consisting of RuO2-based resistive inks and optional underglaze dielectric/sealing overglaze targeting the firing temperature of 1020°C. The materials show excellent high temperature stability and can tolerate rapid thermal cycling. The inks can be deposited by screen printing or spraying and are fully compatible with Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC), Silicon Carbide, and Fused Quartz substrates. This opens up new applications for printed electronics in demanding high-temperature fields
Printable Electroactive polymers | Arkema (France): These printable EAPs enable easy integration into smart systems such as pressure sensors in insoles and mattresses, sports equipment sensors, steerable medical guidewires, structural health monitoring in hydrogen tanks, and haptic gloves. Here, Arkema reports on 2 classes of EPAs: (1) Piezotech FC (P(VDF-TrFE)) for piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and ferroelectric applications like sensors, energy harvesting, and speakers, and (2) Piezotech RT (P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE/CFE)) for high-k, electrostrictive, and electrocaloric uses in actuators and OTFTs. Furthermore, you can learn about specific real applications including printed pressure sensors integrated into mattresses, insoles, and sports equipment such as gold clubs or tennis rackets, a guide wire for endovascular navigation, acoustic monitoring sensor for H2 tank structural health monitoring, haptic glove and many more...
Join us at the Future of Electronics RESHAPED USA (Boston, 11 12 June 2025) - where the global additive, printed, hybrid, wearable, and 3D electronics connects. This is the only event in North America dedicated to this industry, bringing together the entire ecosystem.
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