Tattoo-Paper Transfer as a Versatile Platform for All-Printed Organic Edible Electronics

Abstract

The use of natural or bioinspired materials to develop edible electronic devices is a potentially disruptive technology that can boost point-of-care testing. The technology exploits devices that can be safely ingested, along with pills or even food, and operated from within the gastrointestinal tract. Ingestible electronics can potentially target a significant number of biomedical applications, both as therapeutic and diagnostic tool, and this technology may also impact the food industry, by providing ingestible or food-compatible electronic tags that can "smart" track goods and monitor their quality along the distribution chain. Temporary tattoo-paper is hereby proposed as a simple and versatile platform for the integration of electronics onto food and pharmaceutical capsules. In particular, the fabrication of all-printed organic field-effect transistors on untreated commercial tattoo-paper, and their subsequent transfer and operation on edible substrates with a complex nonplanar geometry is demonstrated.

Temporary tattoo-paper is proposed as a simple and versatile platform for the integration of biocompatible organic electronics onto food and pharmaceutical capsules. The fabrication of all-printed biocompatible organic transistors and complementary logic on untreated commercial tattoo-paper, and their subsequent transfer to and operation on edible substrates is demonstrated, paving the way for novel point-of-care devices and smart food labels.

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