Highly Stable Graphene Inks Based on Organic Binary Solvents

Formulating highly stable graphene-based conductive inks with consistency in electrical properties over the storage period has remained a significant challenge in the development of wearable electronics. Two highly stable graphene-based inks (Cyclohexanone:Ethylene glycol (CEG) ink and Cyclohexanone:Terpineol (CT) ink) are prepared by using two different organic binary solvents, for the first time, without using solvent exchange methods. Both the inks display remarkably high stability (stable even after two months) with negligible variability in electrical properties. Here, it is demonstrated how such inks can be utilized to coat flexible substrates to create wearable e-textiles. Both the inks coated e-textiles show significantly low sheet resistance (≈209.1 Ω □⁻¹ for CEG ink and ≈322.4 Ω □⁻¹ CT ink) that show less than a 15% increase in electrical resistance over two months. Therefore, these inks offer high productivity and reproducibility and can be one of the most effective methods for formulating graphene-based inks.