Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1481368
82 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2022 Article by Stan Farnsworth NOVACENTRIX It's no secret that electronics products are being asked to do more, pushing the bound- aries of technological capabilities. Next-gen consumer products like flexible wearables and foldable mobile devices are proving them- selves to be more than a fad, with start-ups and major companies alike booming on the market for the past few years. In July, Samsung announced 2021 foldable phone sales were up 300% from 2020, at more than 10 million phones. Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip3 Bespoke Edition foldable smartphone even won the "Best of Innovation" award at CES 2022, along with Abbott's FreeStyle Libre 3 wearable diabetes monitoring system. ese products represent the current state of a con- vergence of evolving consumer interests with long-developing advancements in enabling technologies, such as materials and processes. Electrically-conductive inks are one of the long-developing technologies already being utilized in the design and manufacturing of products ranging from smartphones to auto- motive, medical devices (like MRI imaging vests), and prototype space suits. High-per- formance electrically conductive inks can be sorted into a few major categories: solids- based inks incorporating materials such as metal or carbon in some form, particle-free metal complex inks, and conductive polymer inks. Full disclosure: I'm a founding member of NovaCentrix, and our team has developed a range of nanoparticle-metal-based conducting inks going back to the early 2000s. at said, I also see great advancements and opportunities for the other types of inks as well. It's impor- tant to note that inks are generally formulated