Impulsing cross-Canadian efforts for a green electronics industry

Our world is rapidly adopting an information system known as the Internet of Things (IoT), in which smart devices and sensors embedded ubiquitously collect and exchange data. The IoT is estimated to consist of ~50B smart objects in 2020. Many of these devices will be simple, low-cost sensors deployed everywhere, monitoring food supplies, environmental conditions of air and water, the status of packaged goods, and human health. The resulting data will be used to improve human health and safety, as well as provide commercial benefits by preventing product loss. To make this vision a reality, the field of printable electronics (PE) is rapidly developing due to intense research efforts both in Canada and worldwide. PE combines conventional printing methods (gravure, flexography, screen printing, roll-to-roll) with conducting, dielectric, and semiconducting inks to produce electronic devices economically in a high throughput fashion. This unique synergy at the intersection between the printing and the electronics industries allows for the manufacturing of low-cost electronic devices that are light and flexible. The high throughput and low-cost manufacturing capabilities of PE are ideally suited to the mass production of devices needed for the IoT; however, the potential scale of this mass production also presents an environmental challenge that must be addressed for PE manufacturing to be a viable approach. There is an urgent need to reinvent the current methods of PE to incorporate green materials and processes to minimize the environmental impact.
In 2018, the NSERC Green Electronics Network was formed, consisting of world-class researchers in chemistry, physics, and engineering, from across Canada with a vision to address these key issues by exploiting the internationally recognized strengths of Canada in materials science and organic electronics to fabricate environmentally-friendly printed electronic sensors intended for smart packaging applications. This presentation will include a discussion of the vision and goals of this unprecedented network of researchers, along with recent advances from the network in the preparation and characterization of environmentally benign carbon-based conductors, dielectrics, and semiconductors using sustainable processes, their formulation into inks using environmentally-friendly solvents, and the printing and fabrication of electronic devices and circuits on various biodegradable or recyclable substrates.

Dr. Chloé Bois holds the Industrial Research Chair in NSERC Colleges in Print Manufacturing at Collège Ahuntsic. She is the general manager of the Graphic Communications and Printability institute (ICI) since 2020 after having served as R&D director since 2016. ICI is a collegial center for technology transfer and a center for access to technology that supports excellence in college education and innovation in companies in the graphic communications and printed electronics sectors through research, education, and the organization of dissemination events knowledge. As a Research Chair, Bois uses her specialization in printing processes, printed electronics and industrialization of new products printed mainly on rotating equipment for mass production. She supports a multidisciplinary team in the work of transferring academic results to industry by developing methods for scaling up from product prototyping to production prototyping applied to ink formulations, printable structures, additive manufacturing processes. advanced. Thanks to her associative commitments for the scientific and technical community both in Canada and internationally such as OE-A Vice-Chair North America, Tech Access Canada board member, and conferences organization committees, she helps promoting industrial innovation and college and university education. She is dedicated to strengthening the recognition of multiple human potentials by being involved in activities promoting diversity, equality and the inclusion of minorities and racialized communities in STEM and leadership positions.