Degradable Carbon-based Printed Electronic Sensors and Microdevices

可降解碳基印刷电子传感器和微型设备

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04797
• 负责人: Knopf, George
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=759856
• 关键词: Degradable; Carbon; based; Printed; Electronic

The rapid grow of printed electronic devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) has significantly improved our quality of life, but these technological achievements have also created an immense volume of electronic waste (E-waste). These disposable printed electronic sensors and IoT microdevices are essential for personalized healthcare, food safety inspection, intelligent packaging, environmental monitoring, and public security. Many of the applications require single-use devices with simple electronics that perform one or two well-defined functions within acceptable limits. The constituent electronic circuitry, transducers, nonrigid substrates, dielectric surface coatings, and protective flexible enclosures must also be designed to maintain functionality during normal operation, but once its usefulness has concluded the device is physically destroyed in an incinerator, disposed of in a landfill, or decomposed in-situ. The long-term objective of the research program is to reduce the impact of E-waste by focusing on green material synthesis (electronic inks, nontoxic dielectrics, degradable substrates), mechanical metamaterial structures that promote controlled degradation, and benign fabrication technologies that do not produce harmful residues. In this context, degradation means the fabricated device will harmlessly disintegrate into nontoxic carbon flakes (e.g., graphite, graphene, GO), transducer material (e.g., hydrogels, polymer composites), and substrate/coating residue (e.g., starch, cellulose) when exposed to the abiotic and biotic conditions of the disposal environment. The short-term objectives are to: (O1) develop biopolymers and mechanical metamaterial structures that enable device degradation; and (O2) advance environmentally benign laser microfabrication techniques that locally modify the functional properties of degradable stacked carbon/polymer films. The related research projects involve: (i) synthesis and characterization of novel biopolymer composites for degradable substrates, coatings and enclosures; (ii) design, structural analysis, and mechanical characterization of degradable metamaterial structures (e.g., optimal cell geometry); (iii) numerical simulation of laser modifications to stacked carbon/polymer films and layered structures; (iv) fabrication of laser micromachined metamaterials for degradable flexible devices; and (v) direct fabrication of conductive laser induced graphene (LIG) electrodes/circuits on biopolymer-coated substrates. This transformative research program will attract and train highly skilled HQP in the strategic area of global E-waste reduction. The comprehensive scientific studies will also enable Canadian industry to develop innovative physically degradable electronic technologies critical to waste reduction and national security including compostable smart packaging, pH sensors that harmlessly breakdown in soil, and wireless sensors that self-destruct when triggered by the disposal environment.

物联网（IoT）印刷电子设备的快速增长显着提高了我们的生活质量，但这些技术成就也产生了大量的电子废物（E-waste）。这些一次性印刷电子传感器和物联网微器件对于个性化医疗保健、食品安全检测、智能包装、环境监测和公共安全至关重要。许多应用需要具有简单电子器件的一次性设备，这些设备在可接受的范围内执行一个或两个明确定义的功能。组成的电子电路、传感器、非刚性基板、介电表面涂层和保护性柔性外壳也必须设计成在正常操作期间保持功能，但是一旦其有用性已经结束，则该设备在焚烧炉中被物理破坏，在垃圾填埋场中被处置，或在原位分解。该研究计划的长期目标是通过关注绿色材料合成（电子墨水，无毒染料，可降解基材），促进受控降解的机械超材料结构以及不产生有害残留物的良性制造技术来减少电子废物的影响。在这种情况下，降解意味着所制造的装置将无害地分解成无毒的碳薄片（例如，石墨，石墨烯，GO），换能器材料（例如，水凝胶，聚合物复合材料），和基材/涂层残留物（例如，淀粉、纤维素）。短期目标是：（O 1）开发生物聚合物和机械超材料结构，使设备降解;和（O2）推进环境友好的激光微加工技术，局部修改可降解堆叠碳/聚合物薄膜的功能特性。相关的研究项目包括：（i）用于可降解基底、涂层和外壳的新型生物聚合物复合材料的合成和表征;（ii）可降解超材料结构的设计、结构分析和机械表征（例如，最佳单元几何形状）;（iii）对堆叠的碳/聚合物膜和分层结构进行激光改性的数值模拟;（iv）制造用于可降解柔性装置的激光微加工超材料;以及（v）在生物聚合物涂覆的基底上直接制造导电激光诱导石墨烯（LIG）电极/电路。这一变革性的研究计划将吸引和培训全球电子废物减少战略领域的高技能HQP。全面的科学研究还将使加拿大工业能够开发对减少废物和国家安全至关重要的创新性物理可降解电子技术，包括可堆肥的智能包装，在土壤中无害分解的pH传感器，以及在处置环境触发时自毁的无线传感器。