A Review of Conductive Carbon Materials for 3D Printing: Materials, Technologies, Properties, and Applications

Carbon material is widely used and has good electrical and thermal conductivity. It is often used as a filler to endow insulating polymer with electrical and thermal conductivity. Three-dimensional printing technology is an advance in modeling and manufacturing technology. From the forming principle, it offers a new production principle of layered manufacturing and layer by layer stacking formation, which fundamentally simplifies the production process and makes large-scale personalized production possible. Conductive carbon materials combined with 3D printing technology have a variety of potential applications, such as multi-shape sensors, wearable devices, supercapacitors, and so on. In this review, carbon black, carbon nanotubes, carbon fiber, graphene, and other common conductive carbon materials are briefly introduced. The working principle, advantages and disadvantages of common 3D printing technology are reviewed. The research situation of 3D printable conductive carbon materials in recent years is further summarized, and the performance characteristics and application prospects of these conductive carbon materials are also discussed. Finally, the potential applications of 3D printable conductive carbon materials are concluded, and the future development direction of 3D printable conductive carbon materials has also been prospected.