There are so many cool projects out there that use conductive ink, but where to get the ink? Now you can DIY that part, too!
Jordan Bunker of Pumping Station: One in Chicago embarked on this chemistry project and documented the UIUC process into easy-to-follow instructions.
Conductive inks have a myriad of different interesting applications. As a quick, additive construction method for electronic circuits, they are especially intriguing. Unfortunately, for a long time they have been just out of reach of the hobby market. They are too expensive to buy in decent quantities, too complicated to make, too resistive to be practical, or require high annealing temperatures (which would ruin many of the materials you’d want to put traces on).
Now, thanks to some brilliant minds at the UIUC Materials Research Laboratory, you can make your own decent conductive ink!
As with most things worth doing, there are risks.
NOTE: Please don’t do this at home unless you understand the risks and dangers and know how to avoid them. In fact, it’s best that you have a chemist or someone experienced with how to handle chemicals properly help you.
Ammonium hydroxide is nasty stuff. Formic Acid is even worse (It’s basically liquid pain. It’s the chemical in ant bites and bee stings that makes them hurt). Please respect this stuff.
See the material list, full process, and trial and error on Jordan’s post.
4 thoughts on “How-To: Make Conductive Ink”
Comments are closed.
Have a look at this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHNwJmx6bZ0
is a possible engine made from a naturally occurring high crystalline high diamagnetic graphite and then have a look at this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8PkQrbm2ns
it is for a conductive ink that’s makes the competition look like pants.
You can get these things really easily from
https://sites.google.com/site/thinkinkfactory123
for the ink and diamagnetic graphite. And they are cheap!
Met this new company at a UK maker fair, https://sites.google.com/site/thinkinkfactory123 they have produced a conductive ink which I compared to Bare and it is far superior, I actually recorded 2 ohms per square, on top of this it is made from a special Sri Lankan graphite which gives the ink a beautiful metallic silver colour, also I was disappointed with Bare as when I received the conductive pen it was like putty whereas the Think Ink product was like a flowing ink, thumbs up for the Think Ink crew : )
[…] There are also a multitude of tutorials for do-it-yourself conductive ink brewing, such as this one and this […]
[…] Learn More: https://makezine.com/2012/02/23/conduc… […]