Roller Pen Writes Electronic Circuitry

Rollerball pens are getting a high-tech upgrade in the lab. Engineers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently replaced regular ink with a silver nanoparticle version that turns a pen into a handy instrument for drawing functional circuitry on flexible surfaces.

You’re limited only by your imagination as to what you could possibly do with this kind of instrument, said Jennifer Lewis, the materials science and engineering professor who led the development. Her team includes electrical and computer engineering professor Jennifer Bernhard, as well as colleagues and students from several engineering departments at the university.
The idea to use a pen originated with Lewis’ students, who were searching for inexpensive ways to do patterning for electrodes. They seized on the rollerball pen because it’s cheap, portable and simple to use.