Life-Cycle Assessment of Printed Electronic Components - Case Study for Organic Electrochemical Transistors

Abstract

To ensure sustainable progress, future electronics must prioritize both performance and environmental impact, explaining the interest in flexible and printed electronics. However, the sustainability claims often connected to the field of flexible and printed electronics must to be substantiated using analytic methods, providing the motivation for quantitative Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA). Here, a practical guide is provided for researchers from the field to implement early-stage LCA in parallel to their technological development. An Organic Electronic Transistor (OECT) is selected for the case study, and a comprehensive Life-Cycle Inventory is developed based on a modular Process of Record (PoR). Due to the plethora of different materials and processes available (e.g., printing, lithography, parylene peel-off), the modular and adaptable PoR framework enables researchers to use this database for their own devices beyond the OECT example used here. The inventory list is made open-access, and the research community is invited to contribute and expand the inventory list. By making LCA a standard tool in printed electronics, the community can move beyond sustainability claims to measurable environmental impact, driving truly responsible innovation in electronics.