Invention of The Month: Conductive Ink
Staff Writers
at 05:50 AM 03 Apr 2020
Comments 2
Conductive Ink " width="525" height="295"/>
Conductive Ink
IMAGE BY Courtesy Jennifer Lewis
DIY // 

Don't wire a circuit-doodle it. To connect batteries to devices such as resistors and LEDs, a newly developed ballpoint pen uses silver-based ink that conducts electricity through lines drawn over paper, wood, plastic and even some textiles. Jennifer Lewis, the materials scientist who led the pen's design at the University of Illinois in the US, says she is now looking for business partners and hopes to have products that integrate the pen and ink on the market within a few months. Check out video of the ink below!

RELATED
Testing the Best: The Wacom Inkling Turns Paper Into a Digital Sketchpad
To test the Wacom Inkling, we asked PopSci's US Art Director, Todd Detwiler, to doodle to his heart's content. These are his thoughts. more >
By Encoding Messages in Glowing Proteins, Scientists Turn E. Coli Into Invisible Ink
It's an innovation fit for a Cold War spy novel: a means to transmit secret messages via microbe. Dubbed steganography by printed arrays of microbes (yup: SPAM), the technique invo... more >
Lab Creates Food Printed With Edible Ink
Your friends may be forgiven in thinking you a little strange when you boldly claim you’ll be printing your dinner tonight. But Cornell Creative Machines Lab have already suc... more >
 
2 COMMENTS
Jeff
10 April, 2012, 02:57 PM
I'm sorry, but is not new. I can already buy a pen that writes in conductive ink. So can you: it is sold as a "conductive ink pen" at quite a few elctronic parts shops, such as Jaycar in Australia. Go to www1.jaycar.com.au search term "conductive pen"
Len
20 April, 2012, 03:09 PM
You need to watch the video, it shows the comparison of the new to the old pens you refer to.

Leave a comment

Please provide your details to leave a comment.

The fields marked with (*) are required.


Display Name: *
Email *:
Comments *:
(Max 750 characters)
Characters remaining:
*

(letters are not case-sensitive)

Enter the text in the image above
 
Editor's Picks
BY Ashley Wright POSTED 30.05.2020 | 0 COMMENTS
BY Rebecca Boyle POSTED 23.05.2020 | 0 COMMENTS
BY Nick Gilbert POSTED 21.05.2020 | 0 COMMENTS