DISPOSABLE ELECTRONICS
This single-use paper circuit board is the future of disposable electronics
A paper-based electronic circuit board is a flexible and disposable option for single-use electronics
Counting cell phones alone, we have billions of them across the globe and millions more are added every year. And smartphones are only a part of the e-waste problem that we presently face — a wide variety of other electronic devices exacerbate the problem. Currently, only a quarter of the millions of tons of electronics are recycled. This problem is only going to get worse as the world upgrades to newer 5G devices and Digital Transformation gathers pace.
To tackle this challenge, we need to work on a two-pronged strategy. Not only should we be looking at drastically increasing the capacity of recycling electronics, but also work towards producing disposable electronics. Back in 2021, I wrote about how scientists produced the World’s first recyclable printed transistor — created using three carbon-based inks in the hope of inspiring a new generation of recyclable electronics.
And it certainly has, as we find from the novel study. A team of researchers from the State University of New York at Binghamton started by printing a pattern of wax…
