Electrochemical and physicochemical degradability evaluation of printed flexible carbon electrodes in seawater

The environmental impact of metals and non-degradable plastics in printed electrodes has highlighted the need employing sustainable materials monitoring. In this work, we developed a new graphite-based paste (G-PE) on bioderived biodegradable polyhydroxybutyrate polyhydroxyvalerate substrate for tap water seawater We compared its performance against two standard screen-printed (SPEs) fabricated using commercial silver carbon pastes (Ag-SPEs C-SPEs) polyvinyl chloride substrate. Ag-SPEs exhibited lowest sheet resistance (RS = 0.053 Ω/sq), however they were also less reliable as oxidised reacted with ions present seawater. Meanwhile, C-SPEs G-PE presented similar RS (26.9 30.1 Ω/sq, respectively), inert different media showed relatively stable response during cyclic bending studies (less than 2.3% relative variation C-SPE). Physical chemical degradation demonstrated quick ultrasound induced dissolution than5 min) while SPEs did not dissolve even after 30 min sonication, highlighting suitability new, eco-friendly single use or short-term quality monitoring applications.