Flexonics

This merging of flexible materials with electronics has been dubbed "flexonics" and could do away with the conventional printed circuit board. These are normally multilayered flat plastic plates on which electronic components are soldered. Copper strips running between the layers connect the components.

But flexonics makes this unnecessary. It is this ability to embed the electronics in the device that has the potential to revolutionise industrial design. Rather than a casing housing the circuitry, the casing is the circuitry.

But there is a downside. When a flexonic device breaks, it will be irreparable, because none of the embedded components can be replaced. So the technology will fuel the throwaway society.

Flexonics faces considerable challenges. Polymer-based electronic devices may be cheaper to make than silicon, but their performance is considerably poorer. Polymer transistors, for example, still have switching speeds 100 times slower than silicon transistors.

But Jordan Pollack at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, who is interested in using 3D printing to make robots, says speed is not everything. The appeal of being able to print electronic devices means the new technology will inevitably find its niche. "Ultimately such 'Santa Claus' machines will begin to eat into lower-performance circuitry, like light bulbs, toys and transistor radios," he predicts.