Graphene-infused packaging improves lifespan of moisture-sensitive products
While plastic packaging can seem next to impossible to remove at times, water molecules are still able to penetrate through packaging which can jeopardize the lifespan of a product.
To better protect goods such as electronics and medicines, scientists have developed a new kind of packaging that has a single layer of graphene. The new material, which reduces by a million fold how much water can get through, was recently reported in the journal ACS Nano .
Wrapping products from food to electronics in plastic films protects them from dust, bacteria and to some extent water. But to increase the lifetime of a moisture-sensitive device such as an organic light-emitting diode for more than a year, for example, the packaging must restrict water vapor from entering at a rate of less than 10 -6 grams per square meter every day, according to Praveen C. Ramamurthy. Today’s typical packaging nowhere near that goal. Ramamurthy and colleagues wanted to see whether adding graphene to flexible polymer films would help.
The researchers synthesized a single layer of graphene by chemical vapor deposition and using a simple and scalable process, transferred the graphene to a polymer film. Water vapor permeated the material at the target rate of less than 10 -6 grams per square meter per day. An accelerated aging test showed that an organic photovoltaic device wrapped in the graphene-infused film would have a lifetime of more than one year compared to less than 30 minutes if packaged in the polymer without the graphene.
The authors received funding from the Solar Energy Research Institute for India and the United States (SERIIUS): U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy-Research (PACE-R), which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Indian Department of Science and Technology.
Source: www.plasticstoday.com
