Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
Adv Mater. 2022 Jul;34(30):e2202177. doi: 10.1002/adma.202202177. Epub 2022 Jun 11.
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 × 10 S m ). 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.
电子垃圾由于重金属成分的稀有性和毒性，其携带的能源成本和环境负担可与塑料垃圾相媲美。本文引入了可回收导电复合材料，用于用聚己内酯（PCL）、导电填料和酶/保护纳米簇配制的印刷电路。这些电路具有灵活性（断裂应变≈80%）和导电性（≈2.1×10 S m ），可以进行打印。这些复合材料在使用寿命结束时可以通过在温水（可编程延迟）中浸泡来进行降解。大约 94%的功能性填料可以回收并重复使用，而不会影响设备性能。印刷电路在室温下储存至少 7 个月和在电压下连续运行一个月后，仍然保持功能和可降解性。本研究为可回收和易于处理的印刷电子产品提供了复合材料设计，例如可穿戴电子产品、生物传感器和软机器人。
