Applications and Future Prospects of Printed Electronics

This chapter overviews current applications for printed, organic, plastic and flexible electronics, as well as future potential applications of these classes of electronics. Organic and printed electronics applications are organic photovoltaic, flexible and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, organic lighting, electronics and components, and integrated smart systems. Making RFID tags is an obvious application for printed transistors. With printed electronics, sensors can be printed onto plastics or papers in a high throughput roll-to-roll process, which can potentially lower the cost significantly. Printed electronics implies not only printing transistors but also printing electrical circuits, which are simply conductive tracks on rigid or flexible substrates. A typical application is the printed circuit board (PCB). Printing electronics, displays and photovoltaic still faces many challenges. These challenges are materials, processes, encapsulation and standards. Printing combined with organic and inorganic electronic materials and flexible substrates create new applications, new markets and new industries.