Green Electronics

This special issue of the journal Advanced Sustainable Systems focuses on green electronics. The field of green electronics includes scientists, engineers and technologists from academia, national labs and industry as well as manufacturers, consultants, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, industry-government-academia consortia, policy makers and community networks working to limit the impact of electronics and their powering elements (e.g. batteries) on the environment and human health. The special issue includes a perspective, article number 2100046, of extreme interest to explain why the circular economy will drive green and sustainable chemistry in electronics. Considering the depletion of a number of chemical endangered elements and the accumulation of e-waste, it is pertinent and timely to study materials that are electrochemically and electronically active, based on abundant chemical elements, such as carbon, can be synthesized through green processes (e.g. by employing green solvents and synthesis waste disposal recipes) and can go through efficient techniques for recycling. This special issue includes a valuable set of reviews that establish the state-of-the-art in environmental and human friendly materials for electronics, bioelectronics and photonics (silk- and paper-based materials for green photonics and electronics, in article number 2000216, ion-conducting hydrogels for bioelectronics, in article number 2100173, and biocompatible and biodegradable conductive polymer composites, in article number 2100075) as well as novel device end-of-life scenarios where transient electronics (totally disintegrable) are discussed in terms of sustainability (article number 2100057). Natural (biosourced) and naturally derived organic materials are discussed for a broad range of applications. Electrochemical energy storage based on the biopigment sepia melanin and graphitic carbon quantum dots is reported in article number 2100152. Naturally derived organic dyes for light emitting diodes are reported in article number 2000300. Article number 2100048 combines knowledge in plant physiology and nanotechnology by reporting on a prototypical conjugated polymer regulating signalling in plants. The use of green solvents is discussed in article number 2100055, in the context of slot-die coated organic UV indicators and filters, as well as in article number 2100078, for the processing of electron extraction layers of inverted organic solar cells featuring increased stability. Exciting reports deal with materials for organic light-emitting diode substrates based on bacterial cellulose modified with recycled polystyrene, in article number 2000258, high-performance bionylons from itaconic and amino acids with pepsin degradability, in article number 2100052, and electronic platforms based on poly(glycerol sebacic) acrylate combining elastomeric stretchability and biodegradability, in article number 2100035. Sustainable end-of-life scenarios are also discussed in the special issue. Studies on the thermal degradation of waste printed circuit boards in view of their recycling are reported in article number 2100054 whereas article number 2000231 assesses the applicability of gravity separation to recycle the non-metal fraction of waste printed circuit boards. Biodegradable poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)/clay composites as multifunctional electronic materials are discussed in article number 2100056. Self-healing extends the useful lifetime of materials and as such favors their sustainability. Self-healable and stretchable soft microfluidics are reported in article number 2100074. The thoughtful contributions of this special issue are meant to promote a circular vision in electronics. Hopefully the case studies and technological solutions reported in this special issue will help to identify key challenges to be overcome by the electronics industry to implement such circular vision. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Clara Santato (Ph.D., Geneva U, 2001), Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Organic Electronics: Materials, Processes Devices, is Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics at Polytechnique Montreal. Her background is in photoelectrochemistry and organic electronics. Clara is the PI of a Canada-wide Collaborative Research and Training Experience in Sustainable Electronics and Eco-Design (CREATE SEED, 2020–2026) initiative, funded by NSERC, bringing together some 20 universities and industrial partners in Canada and abroad. Mihai Irimia Vladu is Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria. His research interests are focused on the development of environmentally friendly, biodegradable and biocompatible, ‘green' materials for electronic circuits, photovoltaics and energy harvesting. Maria Holuszko (MASc, Ph.D., Peng) is a professor at the Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, (UBC) Vancouver, Canada. She has more than 25 years of experience, working with industry, governments and academia in the area of mineral processing. In 2015 she co-founded Urban Mining Innovation Center at UBC, which carries out research in the area of recycling of e-waste. Her research interests are in the e-waste recycling and promoting circular economy in electronics. Lan Yin is an Associate Professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. She received her Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 2011 and worked as a postdoctoral research associate at MIT and UIUC between 2011–2015. She joined Tsinghua University since 2015 and her research interest are in biodegradable materials and electronics targeting biomedical applications.