Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Generating Flexible Electronic Skin

Abstract

Electronic skin (e-Skin) with various types of sensors over flexible substrates has received considerable interest recently for application in robotics and wearable systems. The energy autonomy of e-Skin is important for continuous operation of sensors and the readout electronics. To this end, we have developed the first energy generating e-Skin comprising of a distributed array of miniaturized solar cells integrated on soft elastomeric substrates. By innovatively reading the variations in the energy output of the solar cells, the e-Skin could sense multiple parameters (proximity, object location, edge detection, etc.). With surplus energy of 383.6 mW from an area equivalent to the palm of adult human hand, the e-Skin presents an attractive solution for energy autonomy. However, the large-scale use of solar cell in e-Skin and in other renewable energy applications, is likely to add to the already rising levels of electronic waste (e-waste). In this regard, there is need to assess the recyclability and biodegradability of e-Skin based on solar cells. In this paper, we assess the life cycle of the key components of e-Skin (i.e. solar cells and the substrate) to examine their environmental impact and viable green alternatives.