A Corn-Based Electrically Conductive Glue for Integration of Edible Electronics.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biotechnology
• Electrical Engineering

Background:

• Edible electronics offer non-toxic, biodegradable solutions for advanced technologies.
• Integration of edible components into functional circuits is essential for point-of-care applications.
• A safe and effective method for interconnecting edible electronic components is critically needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel edible electrically conductive adhesive.
• To investigate the properties and performance of the adhesive in various edible electronic applications.

Main Methods:

• Formulation of an edible conductive adhesive using zein (edible protein) and activated carbon (food additive).
• Characterization of adhesive formulations, evaluating the trade-off between electrical resistivity and lap shear adhesion strength.
• Proof-of-concept validation in applications including device mounting, battery interconnection, and electrode adhesion for fruit monitoring.

Main Results:

• The study reports an edible conductive adhesive based on zein and activated carbon.
• Different formulations demonstrated a trade-off between resistivity and adhesion, with varying ratios of zein to activated carbon.
• Resistivity ranged from 3 × 10³ Ω cm to 5 × 10² Ω cm, and adhesion strength from 2 MPa to 0.5 MPa with increasing filler content.
• The adhesive successfully demonstrated its utility in mounting devices, interconnecting edible batteries, and creating electrodes for fruit monitoring.

Conclusions:

• A novel edible conductive adhesive has been successfully developed using food-grade materials.
• The developed adhesive is suitable for creating complex edible electronic systems and devices.
• This innovation paves the way for advanced point-of-care devices and other applications in edible electronics.