Electrochemical and physicochemical degradability evaluation of printed flexible carbon electrodes in seawater

Franco, Fabiane F.; Dervin, Saoirse; Manjakkal, Libu

Abstract

The environmental impact of metals and non-degradable plastics in printed electrodes has highlighted the need of employing sustainable materials in environmental monitoring. In this work, we developed a new sustainable graphite-based paste (G-PE) printed on a bioderived and biodegradable polyhydroxybutyrate polyhydroxyvalerate substrate for tap water and seawater monitoring. We compared its performance against two standard screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) fabricated using commercial silver and carbon pastes (Ag-SPEs and C-SPEs) printed on a polyvinyl chloride substrate. The Ag-SPEs exhibited the lowest sheet resistance (RS = 0.053 Ω/sq), however they were also less reliable as silver oxidised and reacted with ions present in seawater. Meanwhile, the C-SPEs and G-PE presented similar RS (26.9 and 30.1 Ω/sq, respectively), were inert in different media and showed relatively stable response during cyclic bending studies (less than 2.3% relative resistance variation for the C-SPE). Physical and chemical degradation studies of the sustainable G-PE in seawater demonstrated relatively quick ultrasound induced dissolution (less than5 min) while the SPEs did not dissolve even after 30 min of sonication, highlighting the suitability of this new, eco-friendly G-PE for single use or short-term water quality monitoring applications.

Citation

Franco, F. F., Dervin, S., & Manjakkal, L. (2022). Electrochemical and physicochemical degradability evaluation of printed flexible carbon electrodes in seawater. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 920, Article 116592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelechem.2022.116592

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 3, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jul 6, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Deposit Date: Jul 18, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 19, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry
• Print ISSN: 1572-6657
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 920
• Article Number: 116592
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelechem.2022.116592
• Keywords: Screen Printing, Sustainable Flexible Carbon Electrodes, Physical and Chemical Degradability, Seawater monitoring, Electrochemical Studies
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2890050