High conductivity Sepia melanin ink films for environmentally benign printed electronics
Anthony Camus, Manuel Reali, Michael Rozel, Mariia Zhuldybina, Francesca Soavi, Clara Santato
Abstract
Melanins (from the Greek μέλας, mélas, black) are bio-pigments ubiquitous in flora and fauna. Eumelanin is an insoluble brown–black type of melanin, found in vertebrates and invertebrates alike, among which Sepia (cuttlefish) is noteworthy. Sepia melanin is a type of bio-sourced eumelanin that can readily be extracted from the ink sac of cuttlefish. Eumelanin features broadband optical absorption, metal-binding affinity and antioxidative and radical-scavenging properties. It is a prototype of benign material for sustainable organic electronics technologies. Here, we report on an electronic conductivity as high as 10 −3 S cm −1 in flexographically printed Sepia melanin films; such values for the conductivity are typical for well-established high-performance organic electronic polymers but quite uncommon for bio-sourced organic materials. Our studies show the potential of bio-sourced materials for emerging electronic technologies with low human- and eco-toxicity.