Over 200 million wearables were shipped in 2020 with the number of shipped devices likely to increase to over 700 million by 2026 [1]. Wearables are being used for a range of applications from human health monitoring, to lifestyle organizing. The rapidly increasing demand for wearable devices come at a time when environmental and interplanetary pollution are at an all-time high. It is becoming ever-more necessary to consider the sustainability and life-cycle of emerging wearables. To this end, the amount of electronic waste (e-waste) produced in 2020 was ~50 million tons with up to 80% of that waste expected to reach landfills [2]. Other devices such as medical implants remain in patients or require risky second surgeries to remove when their use is complete. The development and integration of degradable materials for wearables can facilitate the decomposition of electronic devices when they are no longer needed. This talk focuses on the use of bioresorbable materials to achieve transient flexible electronics for medical applications, including devices for use underwater and as implants. The talk will include a discussion about the use of natural waxes, monocrystalline silicon nanomembranes, and resorbable conductive materials for transient electronics that have been evaluated for biocompatibility, moisture permeability, and biodegradation pathways. [1] mordorintelligence.com; [2] thebalancemb.com

Material bioresorption for transient flexible electronics

ACS Fall 2021

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