Flexible, Strong, Anisotropic Wood-Derived Conductive Circuit

Flexible electronics have attracted tremendous attention because of the potential applications in flexible sensors and wearable electronics. Herein, a wood-derived conductive circuit is prepared through a simple top-down wood nanotechnology. Wood scaffolds with layered structure and aligned micro-nano channels are used as the flexible substrate and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are used as the conductive materials. Driven by the hydroxyl groups-induced hygroscopicity of wood scaffold, the MWCNTs are uniformly embedded into the wood scaffold. The conductive circuit exhibits excellent flexibility and high mechanical performance with the tensile strength of 66.07 MPa when the addition amount of MWCNT is 4.06 vol%. Moreover, the conductive circuit presents a high electrical conductivity and anisotropic conductivity. The high conductivity along the fiber direction is 132.42 S m(-1) and the conductivity perpendicular to the fiber direction is 43 S m(-1). Compared with the wood film, the conductivity of the wood circuit is significantly improved by 10(9). Therefore, the sustainable wood-derived conductive circuit shows potential applications in the field of flexible electronics.

Automated summary

A sustainable wood-derived conductive circuit with excellent flexibility, high mechanical performance, and high electrical conductivity has been prepared using wood nanotechnology, showing potential applications in the field of flexible electronics.