Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of article on sustainability and the flexible and printed electronics industry. The first, the overview, can be found here. The second, on reuse and recycling, can be found here.

Sustainability is a topic of increasing interest in the field of flexible and printed electronics The question is how flexible and printed electronics technology can provide environmental benefits. The reality is that the technology does offer key benefits, from offering new applications that can benefit the world we live in to being less wasteful in terms of production due to the additive nature of some systems. 

Rob Frueh, senior business development manager for Brewer Science, said that Brewer Science’ current smart devices and printed electronics programs offer sustainability through several key approaches.

“For instance, the smart devices have the ability to offer savings through reductions in energy, labor and even maintenance in a variety of applications. A few examples might include smart HVAC systems, production or process monitoring, and even smart buildings and facilities,” Frueh observed.

Frueh added that additive manufacturing is a sustainable means of production.

“Flexible and printed electronics play another means of sustainability through additive manufacturing—meaning only what you need where you need it,” Frueh noted. “This optimized approach to waste means a smaller total amount of materials only being used in the end product.”

Dr. Michael Korell, head of new growth area storage for Evonik and spokesperson for OE-A Working Group Sustainability, said that sustainability has become an important aspect of his interaction with stakeholders, and sees plenty of opportunities.

“PE or FHE offer manifold sustainability benefits by enabling new applications that are not possible with conventional electronics alone,” Dr. Korell observed. “Among others, the benefits are in energy savings, increased efficiency of supply chains, improved health and nutrition etc.”

VITO researcher Kévin Le Blevennec, a team member with the OE-A sustainability group, said that printed electronics (PE) or flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) offer manifold sustainability benefits by enabling new applications that are not possible with conventional electronics alone.

“Among others the benefits are in energy savings, increased efficiency of supply chains, improved health and nutrition, etc.,” Le Blevennec observed. “Sustainability advantages will be specific to each end user’s industry sectors, and can occur at different steps of a product life cycle. Manufacturing processes can be more (materials and energy) efficient, generating less waste. Lightweight opportunities can allow e.g. the mobility sector to reduce emissions during the use phase.”

“There are advantages and disadvantages,” said Wolfgang Mildner of msw tech. “On the positive side are materials which are easier and sustainable from their origin. The production process are mostly from an additive approach and therefore also better in their carbon footprint and sustainability.

“But the targeted products are mostly systems which contain combinations of materials and processes, and this makes the overall concept more complicated,” Mildner added. “This means that  even if the components are simple and sustainable, their combination is not. If separation is needed,  a recycling concept is challenging. The consequence is that this needs to be thought through already at design and concept level.”

Dr. Gity Samadi, SEMI FlexTech program manager, noted that printing electronics is an additive process, and additive manufacturing equals less waste and potentially less demand for natural resources (e.g. water, electricity) and lower capital expenditures than traditional electronics manufacturing.

“Flexibility also brings functionality and provides more practical footprints for electronic devices,” Dr. Samadi noted. “Comparing the manufacturing processes for glass versus plastic, plastic also wins in energy efficiency. Once we have biodegradable and recycled plastic it will further lower the energy equation and consumption of valuable raw materials.”

Dr. Gerardo Hernandez-Sosa, group leader Printed Electronics Group at InnovationLab, noted that printing technology is a processing approach that is material efficient.

“By depositing the ink only in the place we need, waste is reduced,” observed Dr. Hernandez-Sosa. “Furthermore, by being a solution-based technique and using plastic substrates, most of the pre and post processing needed happens at low temperatures, reducing energy costs.”

Stephan Kube, Heliatek’s head of marketing, said that there are several sustainability advantages to Heliatek’s organic solar solution.

“First, we use very few material input for producing our films,” Kube reported. “Our solar active area in total is only a few hundred nanometers thick. We do not use toxic heavy metal such as lead or cadmium, do not use rare earths and in general we use naturally abundant raw materials (carbon based molecules). So, we do not use scarce raw materials, but can synthesize the material we need with desired characteristic. It’s like a toolbox. We also think, that recycling at the end will be more environmentally friendly as with conventional PV based on the advantages mentioned above.”