EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

Electronic waste (E-waste) is a huge concern all over the world, as one of the fastest growing waste streams in terms of both volume and environmental impact. Direct writing of laser-induced graphene (LIG) conductive patterns on biological substrates, and especially on wood and wood-based materials, is a promising strategy to promote the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable electronics. However, the large-scale manufacturing of high quality conductive patterns remains challenging due to the complex nature of the surface of wood (inhomogeneous structure with variable chemical composition). Moreover, factors such as high ablation rates, the need of multiple lasing steps and the use of fire retardants are also limiting the applicability of conventional laser processes for the production of sustainable electronic devices. Here, we demonstrate a novel route for direct laser writing of LIG on wood and wood-derived materials (e.g. wood, paper, etc.). Our approach, which combines a fast CO2-laser treatment in normal atmosphere with a simple chemical pre-treatment, allows obtaining highly conductive surfaces on biological materials with unprecedented efficiency at large scale.