FMRG: Eco: Future Eco Manufacturing of Recyclable Soft Electronics

This Future Manufacturing Research Grant (FMRG) EcoManufacturing project will enable eco manufacturing of recyclable soft electronics by seamlessly integrating a select group of biodegradable/recyclable materials and sustainable manufacturing processes, guided by economic and environmental life-cycle assessment. The rapidly increasing number of electronic devices that have decreasing lifetime in use pose three important challenges: (1) a huge amount of waste from used electronics, (2) rapid consumption of scarce elements, and (3) enormous energy consumption for manufacturing electronic devices. On the other hand, soft electronics is an emerging field. Therefore, the team will develop new classes of soft electronics that are created from renewable materials using energy-efficient manufacturing processes, and that can either be degraded naturally or repurposed into high-value products after their lifetime. The project will bring together researchers in flexible/stretchable electronics, polymer chemistry, chemical and materials engineering, manufacturing engineering, sustainability, and science education. This interdisciplinary convergence project will provide a compelling basis to train a diverse cohort of future engineers and scientists. The education and workforce development efforts will include curriculum innovation, teacher professional development, outreach, and student internships, with a commitment to increasing the diversity in the workforce.

This project is structured in five thrust areas addressing materials development, eco manufacturing, biodegradation/recycling, environmental and economic life-cycle assessment, and education and workforce development. More specifically, the project team will design reinforced cellulose composite as the substrate, new conjugated polymer as the semiconductor, composite with selected fillers as the dielectric, and silver nanowire network as the conductor. The research will address the challenges of developing high-performance materials that are renewable, biodegradable or recyclable. It will result in a viable all-printing-based manufacturing framework to enable the scalable fabrication of sustainable soft electronics. The scalability will be demonstrated with a laboratory-scale roll-to-roll system. The device components at their end of life will follow three routes – biodegradation (back to nature), recycling (back to manufacturing), or upcycling (converting to value-added new materials). The project will incorporate biodegradation and material circularity into the life-cycle assessment framework for soft electronics.

This Future Manufacturing project is jointly funded by the Divisions of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), Electrical, Communication, and Cyber Systems (ECCS), and Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) in the Directorate of Engineering, and by the Divisions of Chemistry (CHE) and Materials Research (DMR) in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.