Chitin Nanocrystal Films for Flexible Biodegradable Electronics

Flexible devices are increasingly required in fields such as soft robotics, healthcare, and precision agriculture, where their ability to stretch and conform to non-planar surfaces is essential. All these applications traditionally employ polymeric and plastic substrates, such as polyimides, which nevertheless contribute to electronics waste. Recently, there is a growing interest towards biocompatible, biobased, and even biodegradable substrates. An extremely interesting biobased material coming from the animal kingdom is chitin, which – despite being considered a waste product of the fishing industry – is the most used carbohydrate to create resistant yet flexible structures. This paper reports the development of a solution processing water-based method for the realization of chitin, using a TEMPO mediated oxidation with minimal oxidants. In this study, we focus on characterizing the substrate and investigating its mechanical and thermal degradation properties. The objective is to assess the impact of various oxidant concentrations, to find the most effective one for creating flexible, strong, and temperature-resistant substrates.