Green
electronics on biodegradable substrates from natural sources
have gained broad interest because of the advantages of being biodegradable,
recyclable, sustainable, and cost-efficient. This study presents a
low-cost, yet simple extraction and purification method that explores
aqueous extraction and precipitation with ethanol for the synthesis
of galactomannan films. In salient contrast to the other materials
of natural origin, the process to obtain galactomannan films is energy
efficient and environmentally friendly. As an alternative biodegradable
material, galactomannan has direct relevance to the recent emerging
biodegradable or transient electronics. The galactomannan substrate
with temperature sensors and electrodes fabricated from zinc, a biodegradable
material noted for its essential biological function, demonstrates
a high-precision measurement of temperature and high-fidelity monitoring
of electrophysiological signals (electromyogram or electrocardiogram).
The resulting disposable sensors disappear without a trace in water
and produce environmentally benign end products that could even be
used for alkaline soil amendments. The set of materials explored in
this study is also stable in organic solutions, enabling solvent-based
fabrication that may be combined with recent advances in additive
manufacturing techniques for a novel manufacturing method.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.