Biodegradable electronics are electronic circuits and devices with a limited lifetime owing to their tendency to
biodegrade
Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. It is generally assumed to be a natural process, which differentiates it from composting. Composting is a human-driven process in which biodegradati ...
. Such devices are proposed to represent useful
medical implant, and temporary communication sensors.
Organic electronic devices as compostable material platforms have been fabricated on
aluminum foil
Aluminium foil (or aluminum foil in North American English; often informally called tin foil) is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves with a thickness less than ; thinner gauges down to are also commonly used. Standard household foil is typ ...
and paper
to accommodate these expanded functionalities. In one embodiment of this idea, paper films were utilized as a combination substrate and
gate dielectric
A gate dielectric is a dielectric used between the gate and substrate of a field-effect transistor (such as a MOSFET). In state-of-the-art processes, the gate dielectric is subject to many constraints, including:
* Electrically clean interface to ...
for use with
pentacene
Pentacene () is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and t ...
-based active layers.
This idea was expanded upon to create complete circuits using foldable paper-based substrates.
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...
coatings could underpin an electronic devices because it melts away when the device is no longer needed. One test device, a heating circuit powered by beaming radio waves at it, was implanted under the skin of a rat with a wound. After the wound had healed, the implant simply melts away. The US military research agency
DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Originally known as the Ad ...
funded research on building a tiny dissolving camera with this silk coating for use as a disposable spy camera.
Cable bacteria
Cable bacteria are filamentous bacteria that conduct electricity across distances over 1 cm in sediment and groundwater aquifers. Cable bacteria allow for long-distance electron transport, which connects electron donors to electron acceptor ...
give insight to how biodegradable electronics could be made.
References
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Electronics and the environment