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Silver Pen Allows For Hand-Written Circuits

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the pen-is-mighter-than-the-soldering-gun dept.

Zothecula writes "People have been using pens to jot down their thoughts for thousands of years but now engineers at the University of Illinois have developed a silver-inked rollerball pen that allows users to jot down electrical circuits and interconnects on paper, wood and other surfaces. Looking just like a regular ballpoint pen, the pen's ink consists of a solution of real silver that dries to leave electrically conductive silver pathways. These pathways maintain their conductivity through multiple bends and folds of the paper, enabling users to personally fabricate low-cost, flexible and disposable electronic devices."

8 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Not slashdot too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These things have been around for decades, fuck knows why this is suddenly news.

    1. Re:Not slashdot too! by Tx · · Score: 5, Informative

      The article fails to explain what's new here, a major failing since most every slashdotter will have heard of circuit repair pens. These guys apparently used silver nano-particles and hydroxyethyl cellulose to create a flexible conductor, presumably much more so than the circuit repair pens that have been around forever. I must admit I've never tried using a repair pen on something flexible, but I'm guessing it dries pretty rigid.

      --
      Oh no... it's the future.
  2. Life immiates art once again. by chinton · · Score: 4, Informative

    It comes in handy when your man-animal may be spying to steal your teleportation secrets...

  3. Amazing!!!! by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Informative

    They invented a product that has been available for over 20 years....

    http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/pens.html

    What's next from these ingenious companies?

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Amazing!!!! by chinton · · Score: 5, Funny

      Next week, graphite in a wooden cylinder that can make marks on pressed and dried wood pulp.

    2. Re:Amazing!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      And it gets better - graphite is an electrical conductor! Now we've gone full circle.

  4. What's next? I'll tell you what's next... by h1q · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What's next from these ingenious companies?

    A patent of course.

  5. Re:But it's a Ball Point by bws111 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Which is probably why the article doesn't mention PCBs - it mentions paper, wood etc. The current felt pens work poorly on those surfaces, particularly if you flex them.