Plastic Shavings by Laser: Peeling Porous Graphene Springs for Multifunctional All‐Carbon Applications

Manufacturing strategies to create three‐dimensional (3D) structures with multifunctional nanomaterials are of intense interest for fabricating building blocks in many electromechanical applications. A coil spring composed of graphene provides an important step toward the realization of all‐carbon devices, as it is one of the essential elements for a wide range of systems. In this connection, here an unprecedented fabrication strategy to create a new type of 3D coil spring composed of laser‐induced graphene springs (LIG‐S) which is spontaneously produced via the pyrolytic jetting technique, is presented. Similar to wood or metal shavings observed in traditional machining processes, a pair of LIG‐S with two opposite chiralities and controllable macroscopic dimensions is produced by a single scanning of a focused continuous‐wave (CW) laser on a polyimide (PI) substrate. The resulting LIG‐S, plastic shavings by laser, exhibits sufficient mechanical and electrical properties to enable many applications including strain‐tolerant spring electrodes, antennas, supercapacitors, gas sensors, and luminescent filaments under extreme conditions. Without using any conventional fabrication techniques or other labor‐intensive, time‐consuming, and expensive processes, this novel approach enables a high‐throughput mass production of macro‐, micro‐, and nanoscale featured LIG‐S that can be manufactured within seconds to realize many open opportunities in all‐carbon electromechanical systems. A high‐throughput mass‐production strategy for three‐dimensional (3D) structured laser‐induced graphene springs (LIG‐S) is presented here. By a single scanning of laser on a polyimide substrate, macro‐, micro‐, and nanoscale‐featured LIG‐S can be manufactured in seconds. A number of all‐carbon electromechanical applications, including springs, antennas, supercapacitors, gas sensors, and luminescent filaments, are demonstrated.