Modern printing is based on digitizing information and then representing it on a substrate, such as paper, pixel by pixel. One of the most common methods of digital printing is through inkjet printers. The process of inkjet printing is very complicated, and the ink used must meet certain chemical and physicochemical requirements including those related to storage stability; jetting performance; color management; wetting; and adhesion on substrates. Obviously, these requirements — which represent different scientific disciplines such as colloid chemistry, chemical engineering, and physics — indicate the need for an interdisciplinary book that will cover all aspects of making and utilizing inkjet inks.

This book provides basic and essential information on the important parameters which determine ink performance. It covers not only the conventional use of inkjet technology on graphic applications, but also the extension of this method to print various functional materials, such as the use of conductive inks to print light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and three-dimensional structures. Thus, the book will serve a large community: industrial chemists who deal with ink formulations and synthesis of chemicals for inks; chemical engineers and physicists who deal with the rheological and flow properties of inks; and researchers in academic institutes who seek to develop novel applications based on inkjet printing of new materials.

In the past few years, the synthesis of Cu nanoparticles has attracted much attention because of its huge potential for replacing expensive nano silver inks utilized in conductive printing. A major problem in utilizing these copper nanoparticles is their inherent tendency to oxidize in ambient conditions. Recently, there have been several reports presenting various approaches which demonstrate that copper nanoparticles can resist oxidation under ambient conditions, if they are coated by a proper protective layer. This layer may consist of an organic polymer, alkene chains, amorphous carbon or graphenes, or inorganic materials such as silica, or an inert metal. Such coated copper nanoparticles enable achieving high conductivities by direct printing of conductive patterns. These approaches open new possibilities in printed electronics, for example by using copper based inkjet inks to form various devices such as solar cells, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, and electroluminescence devices. This paper provides a review on the synthesis of copper nanoparticles, mainly by wet chemistry routes, and their utilization in printed electronics.

A new composition of a fully water-dilutable microemulsion system stabilized by natural surfactants is presented as a template for preparation of celecoxib nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are obtained as a dry powder upon rapid conversion of microemulsion droplets with dissolved celecoxib into nanoparticles, followed by evaporation of all the liquid in a spray dryer. The resultant powder is easily re-dispersible in water to form a clear, transparent dispersion. The celecoxib nanoparticles are amorphous and their average size in the dispersion is 17 nm, in agreement with cryo-TEM results and concentration measurements after filtration. As a result of the nanometric size and amorphous state, about 10-fold increase in dissolution of the powder was obtained, compared to that for particulate celecoxib in the presence of surfactants. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A method for preparation of silica nanocapsules is described, by interfacial polymerisation of nanoemulsions which are prepared by the phase inversion temperature (PIT) method. This is a low-energy emulsification technique which does not require any special equipment, such as high-pressure homogenisers. The nanoemulsions were prepared with decane as the oil phase, in which tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) was dissolved with an ethoxylated alcohol as the surfactant. The hydrolysis and polymerisation of the TEOS was performed under acidic and basic conditions using HCl and ammonia, respectively. The obtained nanocapsules with an average size between 100 and 300 nm, which were comprised of an oil core (decane) and silica shell, were characterised using dynamic light scattering, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) and by fluorescence of an encapsulated solvatochromic dye. The capsules could be positively or negatively charged by adsorption of ionic surfactants after they were formed.