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Flexible, stretchable, conformal electronics, and smart textiles: environmental life cycle considerations for emerging applications

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Abstract

The development of flexible, stretchable, conformai electronics, and smart textiles for wearables and other applications by now lacks a guidance toward environmentally benign product concepts. This article facilitates understanding of environmental implications of material choices and design decisions to help material scientists and product developers alike to consider sustainability implications of their research, innovation, and development. The more such electronics enter the market, the more these composite products will emerge as an ecological problem, unless appropriate measures are taken at the early research stage.

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Acknowledgments

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 820331.

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  1. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung eV, Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, Berlin, Germany

    Karsten Schischke, Nils F. Nissen & Martin Schneider-Ramelow

  2. Forschungsschwerpunkt Technologien der Mikroperipherik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Martin Schneider-Ramelow

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  1. Karsten Schischke
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Schischke, K., Nissen, N.F. & Schneider-Ramelow, M. Flexible, stretchable, conformal electronics, and smart textiles: environmental life cycle considerations for emerging applications. MRS Communications 10, 69–82 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2019.157

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