Ultrafast Laser Pulses Enable One‐Step Graphene Patterning on Woods and Leaves for Green Electronics

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 29; no. 33
• Main Authors: Le, Truong‐Son Dinh, Park, Sangbaek, An, Jianing, Lee, Pooi See, Kim, Young‐Jin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.08.2019
• Subjects: Biocompatibility; biocompatible and biodegradable devices; Biodegradability; Electronic components; Electronics; Etchants; flexible green electronics; Graphene; laser‐induced graphene; Masks; Mass production; Materials science; Natural resources; Photolithography; Photoresists; single‐step fabrication; Temperature sensors; Ultrafast lasers
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201902771

Fast, simple, cost‐efficient, eco‐friendly, and design‐flexible patterning of high‐quality graphene from abundant natural resources is of immense interest for the mass production of next‐generation graphene‐based green electronics. Most electronic components have been manufactured by repetitive photolithography processes involving a large number of masks, photoresists, and toxic etchants; resulting in slow, complex, expensive, less‐flexible, and often corrosive electronics manufacturing processes to date. Here, a one‐step formation and patterning of highly conductive graphene on natural woods and leaves by programmable irradiation of ultrafast high‐photon‐energy laser pulses in ambient air is presented. Direct photoconversion of woods and leaves into graphene is realized at a low temperature by intense ultrafast light pulses with controlled fluences. Green graphene electronic components of electrical interconnects, flexible temperature sensors, and energy‐storing pseudocapacitors are fabricated from woods and leaves. This direct graphene synthesis is a breakthrough toward biocompatible, biodegradable, and eco‐friendlily manufactured green electronics for the sustainable earth. Ultrashort femtosecond laser pulses enable one‐step patterning of highly conductive graphene electronics on natural woods and leaves in ambient air. Arbitrary graphene patterns can be directly formed on thin, flexible, and heat‐sensitive dried leaves without any pre‐treatment by femtosecond laser pulses. This direct graphene synthesis could be a breakthrough toward biocompatible, biodegradable, and eco‐friendlily‐manufactured green electronics for a sustainable earth.