as direct-write deposition [@Ahn2009] have also been explored. However, these demonstrations have been conducted only on a small scale, are capable of depositing only one material at a time and are highly time consuming.

We note that the general concept we present here has been previously demonstrated for the deposition or transfer printing of nanomaterials and functional structures on to flat and 3D objects. In 2008, transfer deposition of 0D and 1D nanostructures [@Jiao2008] as well as atomically thin sheets of 2D materials [@Reina2008] on to flat substrates were demonstrated using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as the sacrificial layer (SF). Subsequently, this strategy was adapted for printing of nanostructures on to 3D objects using PMMA [@Lee2011] and other SFs such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) [@Aziz2011] and silk-fibroin [@Kim2010]. Very recently, Saada *et al.* used inkjet printed commercial silver inks to demonstrate patterns on to 3D objects by transfer printing using a PVA film as the SF [@Saada2017]. However, this nanoparticle-based ink requires sintering to provide the desired functionality and mechanical integrity for the transfer process, potentially restricting the technique to single layer patterns only.

Among the various strategies discussed above, we propose that water or solvent-assisted printing is potentially the most 