Conductive Ink with Circular Life Cycle for Printed Electronics
Abstract
Electronic waste carries energetic costs and an environmental burden rivaling that of plastic waste due to the rarity and toxicity of the heavy‐metal components. Recyclable conductive composites are introduced for printed circuits formulated with polycaprolactone (PCL), conductive fillers, and enzyme/protectant nanoclusters. Circuits can be printed with flexibility (breaking strain ≈80%) and conductivity (≈2.1 × 104 S m−1). These composites are degraded at the end of life by immersion in warm water with programmable latency. Approximately 94% of the functional fillers can be recycled and reused with similar device performance. The printed circuits remain functional and degradable after shelf storage for at least 7 months at room temperature and one month of continuous operation under electrical voltage. The present studies provide composite design toward recyclable and easily disposable printed electronics for applications such as wearable electronics, biosensors, and soft robotics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 11, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1002/adma.202202177
Entities
People
- Aaron Hall
- Christopher DelRe
- Daniel Arnold
- Ivan Jayapurna
- Junpyo Kwon
- Le Ma
- Matthew Michalek
- Philjun Kang
- Robert O. Ritchie
- Ting Xu
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Office of Basic Energy Sciences
- Office of Science
- United States Department of Defense
- United States Department of Energy
- University of California, Berkeley
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry