Recent progress in transient electronics

Abstract

Fabrication of durable and long-lasting electronics is well established and desirable in traditional electronic devices. On the contrary, transient electronics is a new concept based on rapid and demand degradation of electronics after a programmed set period of operations. It represents a novel class of electronics that can physically and/or functionally disappear in part or as a whole when they are subjected to certain stimulus. Traditional electronics usually requires functionally stable even under extreme conditions. Such characteristic, however, renders current electronic devices that are malfunctioned or destroyed possess a great threat to our environment and become one of the major sources of environmental pollution. In contrast, transient electronic devices that can degrade or disintegrate after stable operation for a desired period under certain conditions may avert this problem while its performance can be comparable with current devices. Meanwhile, transient electronics could supplement the limitation of traditional electronics and potentially could be of great interest for applications in biomedical implants, secure memory devices, disposable environmental sensors, and zero-waste consumer electronic devices. For example, the transient electronics could be used for implantable medical diagnostic and therapeutic devices that resorb in the body to avoid adverse long-term effects. Transient electronic devices could also be used as environmental sensors that could dissolve to eliminate the need for their retrieval. Moreover, transient electronics could be integrated in portable consumer devices that decompose to minimize the costs and health risks that associated with recycling and the management of hazardous waste streams. Obviously, transient electronics is a subject that is interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary, involving materials science, electronics, mechanics, biology and other subjects. The progress in transient electronics is tremendous recently. In this paper, we summarize the recent progress in transient electronics including the materials, devices and fabrication procedures that are developed in this field. We also introduce the potential applications of various transient electronics with the hope to inspire more application-defined fabrication of transient electronics.