Public Access - The Future of Printing is Bigger, Smaller and Living!
https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/27/the-future-of-printing-is-bigger-smaller-and-living/
Nano technology is allowing for small printing, but there is a similar application worth considering: thin printing.
The key is ink that becomes dry polymeric film just 500nm (nanometres) thick. It bonds instantly and permanently to the substrate without colour penetration. Its advantages are many:
Colors are amazingly vivid
Nearly any substrate is suitable including low-cost papers
Waste is minimized
There are no emissions
Energy use is very low
Water-based inks are less costly than solvent and UV-based inks
It turns out that the Nano world is a cheaper world. Tiny three-dimensional printing and thin/nanographic printing are both money savers. Thin ink means less ink and less cost. Three-dimensional printing uses less material than when molds are built first.