Controlled Pyrolysis to obtain Novel Aqueous Formulations of Carbon Conductive Inks and Application in Green Electronics

• Grant number: 25/04107-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Inorganic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: João Paulo Vita Damasceno
• Grantee: João Paulo Vita Damasceno
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Electronic waste is a huge and crescent problem. Every year, mankind is generating millions of tons of such waste, but only one fifth is recycled and reused, which results in another source of environmental problems. An alternative is the green electronics, which is based on the preparation of electronic devices from renewable and environmentally-friendly materials and feedstocks. In this context, this project aims to propose new paradigms to the green electronics: from the preparation of carbon materials with unprecedented control of atomic and electronic structures, to obtaining new conductive inks that do not require any toxic additives. Initially, carbonaceous materials will be prepared by pyrolysis of the renewable and non-polymeric precursors. The use of this type of precursor is an alternative approach to the studies reported and will significantly improve the structural and electronic control of carbon materials. In this step, solids with metallic or semiconductor behavior and well-defined electronic properties will be obtained according to the precursor and the pyrolysis parameters adopted. In the second stage of the project, carbon materials obtained from environmentally-friendly precursors will be used in the preparation of aqueous conductive inks using procedures that are at the frontier of this area. The conductive inks prepared with the carbon materials obtained will be deposited on renewable substrates to fabricate electrical and/or electrochemical sensors, which will then be tested against the sensing of interest analytes. (AU)