中文Sun Chemical is taking its growing portfolio of electronic and biosensor materials to TechBlick’s The Future of Electronics Reshaped 2026, using the Berlin event to demonstrate how far functional printing has moved beyond decoration and into genuine component manufacturing. The company will exhibit at booth A09 on October 21-22, presenting developments across its SunTronic and SunSens ranges that are increasingly relevant to printers looking to diversify beyond traditional graphics work.
The SunTronic range covers conductive and dielectric inks engineered for automotive, home appliances, healthcare, wellness and biomedical devices. New products in the line emphasize higher recycled content, reduced silver usage, higher-resolution printability, LED-curable dielectrics and stretchable electronics — a combination that addresses both performance and the sustainability pressure now common across every electronics supply chain. Lowering silver loadings without sacrificing conductivity is a particularly active area, because silver remains one of the most expensive ingredients in printed circuits and sensors.
Complementing that, the SunSens materials are designed for printed electrochemical sensors and medical electrodes used in health diagnostics, environmental monitoring and agricultural sensing. These are applications where printing’s ability to deposit precise chemistry onto flexible, low-cost substrates creates real advantages over rigid, batch-produced alternatives. As point-of-care testing and distributed environmental monitoring expand, the addressable market for screen- and inkjet-printed electrodes keeps growing.
Tony Searle, Electronic Materials Business Director at Sun Chemical, framed the strategy around tailoring solutions rather than shipping generic inks. “As the printed electronics and biosensors market continues to evolve, Sun Chemical remains focused on developing tailored electronic material solutions that combine performance, efficiency and sustainability,” he said. That positioning matters because functional-print customers typically need a materials partner willing to co-develop formulations for a specific substrate, cure process and end-use environment rather than a catalogue product.
Dr. Philip Nicholas, Biosensor Technology Lead, will also present on the design and performance trade-offs involved in electrochemical biosensor inks for screen-printed electrodes. His session speaks directly to one of the hardest problems in the field: balancing ink conductivity, biocompatibility, shelf life and manufacturing yield when scaling from lab to volume production. Printers entering this segment quickly discover that the ink is only one variable — screen geometry, drying profile and electrode geometry all shape the final signal.
For commercial printers, the significance of Sun Chemical’s showcase is strategic as much as technical. Printed electronics has long been described as the industry’s next frontier, but the barrier to entry has historically been materials expertise. Suppliers bundling application know-how with proven, recyclable-content formulations reduce that barrier and make it easier for a label or industrial printer to add a high-value, lower-volume product line alongside existing work.
The broader signal from TechBlick 2026 is that functional printing is maturing from novelty to supply chain. Reduced-silver conductive inks, LED-curable dielectrics and stretchable formulations indicate materials built for manufacturability, not just laboratory demonstration. As automotive, medical and environmental customers demand more circular, locally producible electronics, print service providers with the right partnerships will be well placed to capture that demand.
Sun Chemical’s presence at TechBlick underlines a wider truth: the print industry’s growth increasingly depends on solving problems in adjacent markets — healthcare diagnostics, smart packaging, wearable sensors — where the value sits in the function delivered by the ink, not the image on the page. Printers who build those capabilities now may find a more resilient revenue base than commodity graphics can offer.
The sustainability angle is especially notable given regulatory momentum in Europe and North America around electronic waste and critical raw materials. By raising recycled content and cutting silver, Sun Chemical is aligning functional inks with the same circular-economy expectations already reshaping packaging. That parallel is not accidental: many of the same brands demanding recyclable labels are also exploring printed sensors for traceability, authentication and condition monitoring of their products.
For converters, the practical entry point is often a hybrid line — a screen or inkjet station added to an existing label or flexible-packaging press — rather than a dedicated electronics factory. Materials engineered for standard cure profiles and flexible substrates make that incremental approach viable, lowering capital risk while the market develops.
Training is the other watch item. Printed electronics introduces chemistry and metrology unfamiliar to many graphics operators. Suppliers that pair materials with application support, as Sun Chemical is doing through its technical presentations, will likely win the early adopters who then become reference sites for the rest of the market.
Looking ahead, the convergence of printed biosensors with smart packaging could open one of the largest near-term opportunities. Imagine a pharmaceutical or food label that not only carries printed information but also monitors temperature exposure or tampering through a printed electrode. The inks Sun Chemical is highlighting are precisely the building blocks for that future, and events like TechBlick are where the ecosystem — substrate makers, print engine vendors, brand owners and converters — meets to turn prototypes into qualified production.
The takeaway for print business owners is straightforward: functional materials are no longer a science-project sideline. They are a credible diversification path for operations willing to invest in process discipline and supplier relationships, and the suppliers are now doing the heavy lifting on formulation and sustainability so that printers can focus on what they do best — reliable, repeatable production.
