Transient Electronics for Sustainable ICT in DigitaL Agriculture

Lead Research Organisation: University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Engineering

Abstract

ICT enabled cutting-edge frontier technologies such as clean energy, artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), digital twin, robotics, space 2.0 technologies, smart cities, etc. present numerous innovative solutions to mitigate and combat global challenges while acting as the drivers of the global economy. At the same, these technologies have an environmental impact at each stage of their life cycle as the underpinning ICT hardware is often made with unsustainable materials, and processes. Further, at the end-of-life cycle most of the electronic hardware (up to 80%) ends up as electronic waste (e-Waste) - posing environmental and public health risks.

Recognising this double-edged nature of today's ICT, TESLA aims to bring transformative change by developing transient or time-variant electronic hardware, which will do its job (e.g., fast computing, communication etc.) well during the lifetime and continue to provide value even after its life is over. In other words, sustainable ICT manufacturing without disrupting its enabling power. For example, the electronics degrading naturally into compost. TESLA will walk a tightrope to achieve this vision and develop transformative approaches to unlock the potential of ICT in helping to monitor, adapt and mitigate global challenges, while ensuring they do not harm the people or the planet. This is not an easy task as this requires fundamental changes in the way ICT hardware is developed and used. For example, materials used for sensors and electronics will have be designed for sustainability and not just the performance (as is the standard practice today). Likewise, the fabrication processes that lead to lesser wastage, less energy and lesser use of rare earth materials will need to be developed. Further, digital agriculture has been used as test bed to validate the proposed approach as besides using degradable sensors for monitoring plants, this application is well suited to evaluate the compostability of developed degradable electronics.

TESLA's ambitious vision and proactive approach are a step ahead of the current e-Waste related policies, which are largely reactive in nature as they advocate the efficient or extended use/reuse of ICT. There is no doubt that the current policies are steps in right direction, but they are insufficient as they do not guarantee zero-waste or capture the new opportunities that potentially come with e-Waste. They simply slow down the tsunami of e-Waste. On other hand, in TESLA's vision ICT hardware will not require any e-Waste management strategy because there will be none when ICT hardware will degrade naturally.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description A Proactive Approach to the Recovery and Recycling of Photovoltaic Modules (APOLLO)
Amount £499,000 (GBP)
Organisation European Commission 
Sector Public
Country European Union (EU)
Start 01/2024 
 
Description Automated Nano AnaLysing, characterisatiOn and additive packaGing sUitE (ANALOGUE)
Amount £3,076,010 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/Y015215/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2024 
End 01/2027
 
Description UK-Graft
Amount £2,100,000 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2024 
End 05/2025
 
Description Colloboration with Acceleronix 
Organisation Accelonix
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Establishments of a packaging laboratory to demonstrate to partners and provide proof of concepts
Collaborator Contribution Provided in-kind contributions to the team and enhanced networking opportunities
Impact Led to collaboration with a company and the subsequent award of an InnovateUK grant
Start Year 2023
 
Description Colloboration with Inseto 
Organisation Inseto UK Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Development of a semiconductor packaging laboratory to show demonstrations
Collaborator Contribution Support of maintenance/consumables
Impact Established further colloborations Supported the award of an EPSRC Grant - ANALOGUE
Start Year 2023
 
Description Course given on Sustainable electronics 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact I undertook a three-part course at the UNESP University in Brazil. Participants included undergraduate students, postgraduate students, members of the public colleges and the general public
each part consisted of one half hour lecture followed by a 30 minute practical seminar
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Delivery of a Webinar for IMAPS 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact I presented a one hour seminar on 'sustainable electronics' to be semiconductor packaging community in the UK
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Delivery of outreach at Hillhead primary school 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Shoushous Zhang (a researcher aligned with the project) undertook outreach by participating in the school science day, demonstrating the importance of sustainable energy
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Organisational of workshop with CENSIS/user engagement forum for GEOPIC project 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact We undertook the oragisation of a Sustainable Electroncis semianr at the ARC in Glasgow. This was a one-day event to highlight the challenges in sustainability within the electronics sector. We have speakers from industry and academia and University of Glasgow
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Presentation at IEEE SUSTECH Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Jeff Kettle presented work on life cycle assessment of semiconductor electronics devices
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Presentation at Innolae 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Jonathan Harwell and Diego Diaz presented work at Innolae conference in Cambridge
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Presentation at MRS Boston 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Jonathan Harwell presented work at MRS Boston
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Presentation at SBPMat 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Jeff Kettle presented at SBPMat (The Brazilian MRS) an invited talk
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Sustainable electronics lecture 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact I undertook a lecture and course on sustainable electronics to engineering students at the University of Glasgow as an optional element to their "Consumer Electronics" course
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Webinar for the KTN on Sustainable Photonics 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact I presented a seminar organised by the electronic sensors and Photonics KTN on sustainability challenges in the sector. My talk was around 20 mins long and was complimented by 3 talks from indsutry
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023