Testing the durability of aerosol jet printed antennas on acetylated cellulose nanofiber substrates

The continually growing demand for electronic devices and consequently the increase in electronic waste have caused the need for more environmentally friendly materials and methods used when manufacturing the devices. In this paper, a coplanar waveguide-fed square slot antenna was aerosol jet printed onto acetylated cellulose nanofiber (ACNF) substrates and a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) reference substrate, and the effects of photodegradation on these were studied. The functionality and print quality of the antennas were examined before and after photodegradation. In addition, changes in the color of the substrate and antenna were analyzed during the photodegradation process. Interestingly, the color of the ACNF substrate became whiter after photodegradation, while there were no significant changes in the color of the PET substrate, and the printed antennas became notably darker. The printed dimensions were quite accurate compared to the planned dimensions; there were, however, small differences in the horizontal and vertical directions. Additionally, the printed pattern on the PET substrate showed significantly more gaps in the pattern compared to the printed pattern on the ACNF substrate. The electrical properties of the antenna on the ACNF substrate were almost as good as those of the PET substrate. The photodegradation treatment significantly deteriorated the electrical properties of the antenna on the PET substrate, whereas the antenna on the ACNF substrate did not show any notable changes. Hence, this study shows that ACNF would be a suitable substitute for plastic as a substrate for printed electronics.