Flexible Electrochemical Sensors with Printable Inks to Detect Toxic Heavy Metals

Additive manufacturing of graphene sensors that can measure heavy metals in water offers a sustainable, cost effective and scalable alternative to current sensors available in the market. This study investigates, scalable production of graphene using electrochemical exfoliation, development of graphene inks for extrusion printing and finally develop printed working electrodes on both rigid and flexible substrates for testing. We have demonstrated combining electrochemical and liquid phase exfoliations we were able to develop a scalable production of few layer graphene, achieving resistance in the range of 100 – 400 ohms after annealing at temperature at 300°C. This work shows promise in developing fully printed, flexible and low-cost graphene sensors for heavy metal detection.