L2M NSERC - Single-step co-reduction of graphene oxide films for environmentally friendly RFID fabrication

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The last decade has witnessed a sharp rise in the use of electrical and electronics equipment (EEE), which has raised concerns about the electronic waste (e-waste) that's associated with such cheap and single or few-use electronics, e.g. one-pass transportation and sports tickets. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags are an example EEE product with a single or few use requirements that are often discarded, without any concern for reuse or recycling. The lack of eco-friendly materials - mostly fossil fuel derived plastics and metal foils - used in conventional tags, along with material separation costs means that these parts have had a polluting environmental presence for many years. In this project, we propose a fast, one-step method of fabricating Graphene Oxide-based transient RFID tags showing attractive electrical and mechanical properties. In thisfabrication process, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) and Aluminum foil are used as co-reductant agents, which are both widely available and cheap materials, and here, Al foils can be recycled and reused repeatedly. Due to the inherent eco-friendliness of graphene, the final device can be easily dispersed into water, allowing for a reduced pollution potential for future RFID devices. Based on the industrialization merits of the technology (e.g., cost-effective, mass productive, facile, and reproducibility), we believe our approach is suited for a fast entry to market.