Imagine an easy and non-polluting way of disposing of your old electronic gadgets that have outlived their usefulness. E-waste or waste from electronic products is a ticking time bomb that threatens to engulf us. For instance, about 85% of e-waste is discarded as landfills, releasing several toxins into the environment. Although only 2% of America’s trash in landfills is e-waste, it equals 70% of the overall toxic waste, with lead as the major element. Every year, worldwide, disposal of e-waste is nearing 50 million metric tons of which, only 12.5% is currently recycled.
To combat the menace of e-waste, SINTEF, a research organization in Scandinavia, is making progress in developing electronic components that can dissolve in water. The components are printed on silicon wafer and they contain extremely thin circuits, which are only a few nanometers thick. Being made of a combination of silicon, magnesium or silicon with magnesium additives, these circuits are water-soluble and disappear after a few hours.
Final working products are usually protected with a coating that prevents external fluids from reaching the inside of the packaging and degrading the circuit. Therefore, the requirement is that the circuit be designed to complete its job before that can happen. For example, a circuit package designed to operate in seawater and fitted with sensors to detect oil spills may have a film that remains in place for the few weeks when detection is due.
At present, SINTEF is not manufacturing final products, but only demo products that demonstrate how electronic components can have properties that make them degradable. As their project enters its second year, SINTEF is searching for an active industry partner and additional funding to carry their research further. However, they are confident eco-friendly electronics has a future of its own.
Apart from eco-friendly electronics, researchers are also working on electronic devices that are biodegradable. Such a device, when implanted in the body for different uses such as pain management or for combating infection, will dissolve over time after its objective is met. While several countries, especially America, has made colossal contributions towards resolving the issue of waste and building relations to medical applications, SINTEF s trying to find alternative approaches to this problem.
Other researchers are also working along similar lines. For example, the world’s only ‘biodegradable’ drone, built with biodegradable material, starts to break down upon impact in the event of a crash – eventually leaving no evidence of its existence. This drone was designed and built by a team of students from the Spelman college, Brown University and Stanford University, in collaboration with Ecovative Design for IGEM, a New York based biomaterials company.
Such an aerial vehicle, unmanned and made from biological materials, is ideal for venturing into sensitive areas, while leaving no trace of its existence in the event of a crash. Scientific expeditions with such drones will not contaminate the environment. It will be easy for covert military drones to conceal the fact that they have been spying.
In fact, the biological prototype drone may use a plant-root-like material such as mycelium. This is a part of a fungus, often used as a lightweight and sustainable material for packaging wine or for use in surfboard cores. Several other biological materials are being developed for making all parts of the drone biodegradable – including the sensors.
