https://www.tomshardware.com/news/waterdegradable-pcbs
'If our technological evolution has one shadow, it's environmental
sustainability. Every year, gigatons of deprecated electronic materials are
incorrectly disposed of, leading to lost opportunities to recover rare precious
metals while simultaneously risking ecological damage. To curb the rising
amount of electronic waste, semiconductor and PCB expert Infineon partnered
with Jiva Materials to explore the company's biodegradable, water-soluble PCB
design. Soluboard - the board that can be dissolved - is here.
Instead of the traditional glass-based fibers and chemicals used in common PCB
materials, Soluboard tech uses natural fibers that are naturally biodegradable.
These fibers are then enveloped in a non-toxic polymer (which is to say, a
spray-on plastic solution) that completely dissolves in hot water, allowing the
environment to start composting the fibers that compose the PCB's structure
itself. Besides the direct environmental sustainability gains from not building
up Babel towers of disposed electronics, this degradable PCB also allows for
the appended electronics to be later removed and recycled without the risk of
secondary damage.
"For the first time, a recyclable, biodegradable PCB material is being used in
the design of electronics for consumer and industrial applications – a
milestone towards a greener future," said Andreas Kopp, Head of Product
Management Discretes at Infineon's Green Industrial Power Division. "We are
also actively researching the reusability of discrete power devices at the end
of their service life, which would be an additional significant step towards
promoting a circular economy in the electronics industry."
Circular economy, in this case, refers to the dream of a virtuous recycling,
well, cycle, where components and materials used for new electronics are
sourced from already-existing materials. Besides the obvious monetary advantage
of this approach, the secondary benefits of reducing dependence on newly
extracted raw materials are reduced - something that might help the Western
chip manufacturing industry from being held at the throat by Chinese-imposed
rare earth export restrictions. A circular data economy is precisely what AI
companies such as OpenAI are attempting to solve with their research on
recursive training. It is something most other industries are trying to get at
as well.'
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
