Composite materials for printed electronics in Internet of Things applications

Printed electronics belongs to one of the most prominent electronics technologies allowing us to manufacture electronic components and devices on different kinds of substrate materials. This manufacturing technology reveals to have significant potential to be used in Internet of Things (IoT) applications. In this paper, composite materials which are suitable for the production of a variety of IoT devices are discussed. Particular attention was focused on metal- and carbon-based composite materials allowing us to form conductive parts of the IoT devices produced. Further, sensor and encapsulation materials were reviewed as well. These conductive and sensor materials comprised of micro- and nano-particles, such as silver, copper, graphene oxide and its reduced forms, carbon nanotubes, carbon black or graphene nanoplatelets. Based on the conducted analysis, it was stated that further investigations of curing methods, fillers materials and composition of composites are recommended to be carried out in order to study mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of composite materials required for IoT applications.