Inkjet printing of transparent, electrically conducting single-waited carbon-nanotube composites

An approach for the synthesis of robust, flexible, transparent, and conducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) composite films by inkjet printing is presented. Single-walled carbon nanotubes inks stabilized with a water-soluble conducting polymer, poly(2-methaoxyaniline-5-sulfonicacid) were printed by using an of-the-shelf inkjet printer onto overhead transparency sheets. The printed films exhibited linear current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, which indicate ohmic behavior. A linear dependence of the PMAS-SWNT printed film on the concentration of ethanol vapor was observed under static and flow conditions, while no response was observed to the aromatic compounds. It was also observed that an increase in the numbers of prints contributes to the improvement of resistance and to the reduction of transparency.