Growing biodegradable electronics?

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is helping to pursue innovative pathways leading to more energy-efficient and environment-friendly ways to manufacture electronic devices through its recent collaborations with partners seeking to democratize the eco-manufacturing of biodegradable electronic devices.

Today, device manufacturing faces several challenges:

● Central production. Producing devices in a central location incurs transportation costs and exposes supply chains to disruptions that delay or cancel shipments.
● Greenhouse gas emissions. From receiving materials to producing and shipping devices, each step in the manufacturing process produces greenhouse gas emissions.
● Landfill waste. Devices that are no longer useful are discarded in the trash where they end up in landfills, leeching materials into the soil and damaging the environment.

With funding from the National Science Foundation, teams of scientists led by the University of Chicago are addressing these challenges by leveraging precision growth to convert plants into biodegradable electronic devices.

This groundbreaking process allows researchers to extract plant components and convert them into bio-based inks. These inks can then be used in a 3D printer to print electronic devices that are both biodegradable and recyclable.

A carbon-neutral solution, researchers envision a world where this process not only decreases environmental damage at scale, but also decarbonizes the entire manufacturing process as individuals begin to print their own electronic devices from home or nearby library.

Key partners include:
● The University of Chicago (lead)
● Argonne National Laboratory
● University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
● University of Illinois at Chicago
● Iowa State University
● Northwestern University
● The Center for Molecular Engineering at Argonne National Laboratory

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ABOUT ARGONNE

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit the Office of Science website.