"Integrated Papertronics" Offers Single-Use Electronic Circuit Boards Made Entirely of Paper

A team of researchers from the State University of New York at Binghamton has come up with a way to produce what they call "integrated papertronics," building components including resistors, supercapacitors, and transistors directly onto paper — providing a more eco-friendly approach for single-use electronics.

"Humanity’s excessive production of material waste poses a critical environmental threat, and the problem is only escalating, especially in the past few decades with the rapid development of powerful electronic tools and persistent consumer desire to upgrade to the newest available technology," the team explains.

"The poor disposability of electronics," the researchers continue, "is especially an issue for the newly arising field of single-use devices and sensors, which are often used to evaluate human health and monitor environmental conditions, and for other novel applications. Though impressive in terms of function and convenience, usage of conventional electronic components in these applications would inflict an immense surge in waste and result in higher costs."

The solution: single-use electronics, which are easier to dispose of at the end of their life, either by recycling, burning for energy recovery, or simply biodegrading, owing to being effectively nothing more than paper. "All electronic components are paper-based," the team claims of its creation, "and integrated on paper-based printed circuit boards (PCBs), innovatively providing a realistic and practical solution for green electronic platforms."

The so-called "integrated papertronics" devices created during the research are built using a six-stage process: a filter paper is printed with the circuit pattern using a wax printer, then baked so the melted wax can diffuse through the paper. Once baked, the paper is printed with functional inks before being screen-printed with a silver conductive ink. Further conductive traces are added, along with gel electrolytes for the active components.

The team claims that its approach is scalable, proposing a batch fabrication process that would even allow for multi-layer papertronic circuits — using a laser-cutting to create through-holes for bonding using conductive ink once assembled. To prove the concept, the researchers built a papertronic amplifier device which included resistor, supercapacitor, and transistor components — successfully testing the device post-manufacturing, which performed as-expected despite retaining the thickness and flexibility of the original paper. Once the team had finished, the amplifier was burned to ash — leaving nothing harmful behind.

The team's work has been published in the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces under closed-access terms.