Enhanced Hydrophobicity in Nanocellulose-Based Materials: Toward Green Wearable Devices

Abstract

Nanocellulose is a promising material for fabricating green, biocompatible, flexible, and foldable devices. One of the main issues of using nanocellulose as a fundamental component for wearable electronics is the influence of environmental conditions on it. The water adsorption promotes the swelling of nanopaper substrates, which directly affects the devices’ electrical properties prepared on/with it. Here, plant-based nanocellulose substrates, and ink composites deposited on them, are chemically modified using hexamethyldisilazane to enhance the system’s hydrophobicity. After the treatment, the electrical properties of the devices exhibit stable operation under humidity levels around 95%. Such stability demonstrates that the hexamethyldisilazane modification substantially suppresses the water adsorption on fundamental device structures, namely, substrate plus conducting ink. These results attest to the robustness necessary to use nanocellulose as a key material in wearable devices such as electronic skins and tattoos and contribute to the worldwide efforts to create biodegradable devices engineered in a more deterministic fashion.

Recent Progress in Modification Strategies of Nanocellulose-Based Aerogels for Oil Absorption Application

“…As the most abundant biopolymer on earth, cellulose has received the attention of scientists in different fields, including biodegradable plastics, optical films, modern coatings, composites and laminates and controlled release of actives, in addition to membranes and related separation media [ 2 , 21 ]. It has been utilized in the fabrication of different functional materials such as films, membranes, coating agents, hydrogels and aerogels [ 22 ].…”

Nanoscale structural and electronic properties of cellulose/graphene interfaces

“…To impart electrical conductivity to cellulose, metallic particles, 12 conductive polymers, 13 carbon-based particles, 14 and 2D materials 15 are usually integrated into nanocellulose through different techniques (coating, dipping, printing, blending, etc. ).…”

“…To impart electrical conductivity to cellulose, metallic particles, 12 conductive polymers, 13 carbon-based particles, 14 and 2D materials 15 are usually integrated into nanocellulose through different techniques (coating, dipping, printing, blending, etc.). A combination of nanocellulose and 2D nanomaterials such as graphene, MoS 2 , and MXene has recently triggered great interest in the scientific community as a new class of multifunctional hybrid compounds.…”

Electro Conducting Ink Based on a Silver Complex

“…В последнее время все более востребованной в мелкосерийном производстве печатных плат становится печать токопроводящих дорожек с помощью струйных принтеров [1,2]. Широкое применение находят как пьезоэлектрические принтеры, так и принтеры капиллярной подачи чернил.…”

“…Широкое применение находят как пьезоэлектрические принтеры, так и принтеры капиллярной подачи чернил. Для обоих этих видов принтеров используются чернила с токопроводящими пигментами, наиболее часто для этих целей применяют наноразмерные частицы серебра [1,2]. В качестве источников серебра можно использовать как суспензии серебра [3,4], так и растворы соединений серебра, которые при спекании чернил разлагаются с выделением серебра [5,6].…”