Professor Cinzia Casiraghi

In the near future tiny powerful devices could be embedded into every-day objects and used to collect a large amount of physical parameters that are currently not accessible. The development of this technology can have a tremendous impact on society, as it would improve how goods are produced, transported and stored, how we manage health and wellness and would allow potential savings associated to reduced diseases, accidents and costs. However, the processes traditionally used in electronics are not suitable for integration of devices into flexible materials, such as plastic, paper and textiles. New materials and manufacturing approaches are required.

Professor Casiraghi’s research group has developed inks made of a new class of functional materials with unique properties, called 2-dimensional materials. The most famous material belonging to this class is graphene, a single layer of graphite, which is known for its outstanding electronic properties. The group have shown that a device can be easily fabricated by depositing the inks only with an inkjet printer, similar to the ones used at home. The inks are based on water, are biocompatible and have been specially formulated for electronic devices that can be easily integrated onto plastic and paper.