Kokare S, Asif F M A, Mårtensson G, Shoaib-Ul-Hasan S, Rashid A, Roci M, Salehi N
Department of Production Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvägen 68, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Protein Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Mycronic AB Nytorpsvägen 9, 183 03 Täby, Sweden.
Int J Environ Sci Technol (Tehran). 2022;19(4):3087-3102. doi: 10.1007/s13762-021-03388-x. Epub 2021 May 26.
Stretchable electronics is a new innovation and becoming popular in various fields, especially in the healthcare sector. Since stretchable electronics use less printed circuit boards (PCBs), it is expected that the environmental performance of a stretchable electronics-based device is better than a rigid electronics-based device that provides the same functionalities. Yet, such a study is rarely available. Thus, the main purpose of this research is to perform a comparative life cycle analysis of stretchable and rigid electronics-based devices. This research combines both the case study approach and the research review approach. For the case study, a cardiac monitoring device with both stretchable and rigid electronics is used. The ISO 14044:2006 standard's prescribed LCA approach and ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (Hierarchist) are followed for the impact assessment using the SimaPro 9.1 software. The LCA results show that the stretchable cardiac monitoring device has better environmental performance in all eighteen impact categories. This research also shows that the manufacturing process of stretchable electronics has lower environmental impacts than those for rigid electronics. The main reasons for the improved environmental performance of stretchable electronics are lower consumption of raw material as well as decreased energy consumption during manufacturing. Based on the LCA results of a cardiac monitoring device, the study concludes that stretchable electronics and their manufacturing process have better environmental performance in comparison with the rigid electronics and their manufacturing process.
可拉伸电子产品是一项新的创新成果，正在各个领域中流行起来，尤其是在医疗保健领域。由于可拉伸电子产品使用的印刷电路板（PCB）较少，因此预计基于可拉伸电子产品的设备的环境性能要优于提供相同功能的基于刚性电子产品的设备。然而，这样的研究却很少见。因此，本研究的主要目的是对基于可拉伸和刚性电子产品的设备进行生命周期比较分析。本研究结合了案例研究方法和文献综述方法。对于案例研究，使用了一种兼具可拉伸和刚性电子产品的心脏监测设备。在使用SimaPro 9.1软件进行影响评估时，遵循了ISO 14044:2006标准规定的生命周期评价方法和ReCiPe 2016中点（等级主义）方法。生命周期评价结果表明，可拉伸心脏监测设备在所有十八个影响类别中都具有更好的环境性能。本研究还表明，可拉伸电子产品的制造过程比刚性电子产品的制造过程对环境的影响更小。可拉伸电子产品环境性能提高的主要原因是原材料消耗较低以及制造过程中的能源消耗减少。基于心脏监测设备的生命周期评价结果，该研究得出结论，与刚性电子产品及其制造过程相比，可拉伸电子产品及其制造过程具有更好的环境性能。
