Skip to main content

Printable and recyclable carbon electronics using crystalline nanocellulose dielectrics.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Williams, NX; Bullard, G; Brooke, N; Therien, MJ; Franklin, AD
Published in: Nature electronics
April 2021

Electronic waste can lead to the accumulation of environmentally and biologically toxic materials and is a growing global concern. Developments in transient electronics-in which devices are designed to disintegrate after use-have focused on increasing the biocompatibility, whereas efforts to develop methods to recapture and reuse materials have focused on conducting materials, while neglecting other electronic materials. Here, we report all-carbon thin-film transistors made using crystalline nanocellulose as a dielectric, carbon nanotubes as a semiconductor, graphene as a conductor and paper as a substrate. A crystalline nanocellulose ink is developed that is compatible with nanotube and graphene inks and can be written onto a paper substrate using room-temperature aerosol jet printing. The addition of mobile sodium ions to the dielectric improves the thin-film transistor on-current (87 μA mm-1) and subthreshold swing (132 mV dec-1), and leads to a faster voltage sweep rate (by around 20 times) than without ions. The devices also exhibit stable performance over six months in ambient conditions and can be controllably decomposed, with the graphene and carbon nanotube inks recaptured for recycling (>95% recapture efficiency) and reprinting of new transistors. We demonstrate the utility of the thin-film transistors by creating a fully printed, paper-based biosensor for lactate sensing.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Nature electronics

DOI

EISSN

2520-1131

ISSN

2520-1131

Publication Date

April 2021

Volume

4

Issue

4

Start / End Page

261 / 268

Related Subject Headings

  • 4009 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware
  • 4008 Electrical engineering
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Williams, N. X., Bullard, G., Brooke, N., Therien, M. J., & Franklin, A. D. (2021). Printable and recyclable carbon electronics using crystalline nanocellulose dielectrics. Nature Electronics, 4(4), 261–268. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00574-0
Williams, Nicholas X., George Bullard, Nathaniel Brooke, Michael J. Therien, and Aaron D. Franklin. “Printable and recyclable carbon electronics using crystalline nanocellulose dielectrics.Nature Electronics 4, no. 4 (April 2021): 261–68. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00574-0.
Williams NX, Bullard G, Brooke N, Therien MJ, Franklin AD. Printable and recyclable carbon electronics using crystalline nanocellulose dielectrics. Nature electronics. 2021 Apr;4(4):261–8.
Williams, Nicholas X., et al. “Printable and recyclable carbon electronics using crystalline nanocellulose dielectrics.Nature Electronics, vol. 4, no. 4, Apr. 2021, pp. 261–68. Epmc, doi:10.1038/s41928-021-00574-0.
Williams NX, Bullard G, Brooke N, Therien MJ, Franklin AD. Printable and recyclable carbon electronics using crystalline nanocellulose dielectrics. Nature electronics. 2021 Apr;4(4):261–268.

Published In

Nature electronics

DOI

EISSN

2520-1131

ISSN

2520-1131

Publication Date

April 2021

Volume

4

Issue

4

Start / End Page

261 / 268

Related Subject Headings

  • 4009 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware
  • 4008 Electrical engineering