Sun Chemical’s latest functional-ink portfolio puts recycled content and lower silver loading alongside electrical performance. The real story is how materials economics is reshaping printed electronics.
PRINTED ELECTRONICS / MATERIALS / SOURCE DATE: 6 October 2026 (catch-up)
The price of a printed conductor
Sun Chemical used the run-up to the 21–22 October Electronics RESHAPED exhibition in Berlin to present additions to its SunTronic functional-ink range. The announcement, dated 6 October, includes silver inks with greater recycled content and a conductive formulation designed to use less silver. The supplier also highlighted conductive and dielectric materials for applications spanning automotive components, appliances and sensors.
This is not a single breakthrough device, and the announcement does not provide enough comparative test data to declare a new industry benchmark. It is nevertheless a useful signal. As printed electronics move from demonstration panels to serial products, the cost and availability of conductive material become as important as the ability to draw a circuit onto a flexible substrate.
Why silver is difficult to replace
Silver inks are popular because they can provide good electrical conductivity at process temperatures compatible with many polymer films. They are also relatively familiar to screen, inkjet and other additive manufacturing routes. The problem is that silver is a precious metal, and a product with a large conductive area or thick printed busbars can carry a substantial raw-material cost.
Reducing silver loading may improve the cost position, but the electrical trade-offs must be understood. Sheet resistance, line width, adhesion, curing temperature, flexibility and resistance to humidity can all change with formulation. A lower material price is not useful if the printed trace needs extra thickness, produces more scrap or fails earlier in the field.
The dielectric cannot be an afterthought
Sun Chemical’s exhibition message also covers dielectric inks. In a multilayer printed circuit, dielectric quality determines how reliably conductors can cross, how effectively high-voltage regions are isolated and how moisture is kept away from sensitive interfaces. Pinholes, poor adhesion or local thickness variation can turn an apparently simple printed stack into an intermittent failure.
For illuminated surfaces and thin electronic laminates, the dielectric also has to coexist with optical and mechanical demands. It may need to bend, remain dimensionally stable, avoid unwanted colour or haze, and survive repeated thermal cycling. A material that works on a rigid laboratory coupon may behave differently on a shaped automotive trim component.
A wider manufacturing choice
The same Berlin event also featured a flexible heater demonstrator from DP Patterning, Avery Dennison and IUMAT that uses mechanically patterned metal foil instead of printed silver. These are not interchangeable technologies in every application, but their coexistence is instructive. Manufacturers now have a broader choice between deposited inks, patterned metal, hybrid assemblies and other thin-film routes.
The comparison should be made at system level. An ink may offer exceptional design freedom and low tooling cost; a metal laminate may offer lower resistance and simpler material economics for a heater. Each needs compatible adhesives, connections, protection and end-of-line testing. The best route depends on the geometry and reliability target, not a universal preference for “printed” or “non-printed”.
The Lux View
The next phase of printed electronics will be won through repeatability and total installed cost rather than material novelty alone. Lower-silver and recycled-content inks are commercially interesting, but their value has to be demonstrated in electrical performance, yield and lifetime. For lighting and smart-surface programmes, the material specification should start with the complete multilayer product and the failure modes it must survive.
Publishing information
Source and research links
https://www.techblick.com/innovations-day/the-future-of-electronics-reshaped-2026