Guest Editorial Special Issue on Printable Sensors and Systems

Printing of sensors and electronics has received substantial interest in recent years as the alternative approach to realize low-cost, large-area electronic, optoelectronic and sensing systems. Printed electronics employs conventional printing processes with plastics, papers or textiles as substrates. The adoption of any new technology is significantly higher when the high quality sensor systems are of low-cost. Printed sensors and electronics have clear advantages in terms of production cost and may offer one solution to meet the demand at low cost. For example, the capital expenditure is low; material utilization is high (or material waste is low); the possibility of industrial scale-up is built into the fabrication process. The cost of printed sensors will be 1/10th to 1/100th the cost of the sensor systems made with conventional electronics. With the predicable coming of “Trillion sensors society,” the low-cost manufacturing becomes ever so important. Other factors favoring the use of printing techniques include possibility to tailor the use of different solvent media and hence environmental friendliness. For this reason a significant tool chest of printed sensors and electronics has been built worldwide.