Learn how researchers are creating greener printed electronics with innovative materials and low-impact manufacturing, enabling devices that combine sustainability with superior performance.
Addressing environmental challenges and developing greener processes and products is a shared priority across today’s R&D landscape. Whether your work focuses on inks, substrates, thin films, sensors, or emerging device architectures, sustainability is a now core design consideration. As the push toward low-impact materials and energy-efficient manufacturing grows, the printed-electronics community is responding with genuinely promising solutions.
In a recent Special Issue of ACS Applied Electronic Materials, we highlighted nine research papers featuring some of the latest sustainability breakthroughs in printed electronics—offering a clear view of where the field is heading. These studies include advances in green conductive inks, nanomaterial-based sensing platforms, biodegradable and recyclable substrates, and energy-efficient or low-temperature processing routes that reduce the environmental footprint of printed devices without compromising performance.
What stands out is the diversity of approaches. Some teams are redesigning substrate chemistry; others are refining interface engineering or testing alternative device architectures that operate at lower voltages or support circular-economy recovery.
A clear theme emerges from the reading: sustainability is being engineered at every layer of the materials-to-devices pipeline. Instead of relying on conventional synthetic polymers, high-energy curing, or heavy-metal-rich materials, these scientists are developing credible alternatives. From chitosan-lignin substrates to lead-free perovskites to direct-laser-written energy devices, the studies in this special issue capture how the field is translating sustainability goals into real, testable technologies.
We invite you to explore these articles and discover insights that inspire your own research. This collection demonstrates that truly sustainable electronics at an industrial scale are closer than many think. The framework for a sustainable future is being built, printed, characterized, and refined—right now.
Sustainable Development of Printed Electronics: Explore Research Articles
Inkjet Printable Conductive Activated Carbon Ink from Sustainable Sources
João Paulo Vita Damasceno, Valerio Francesco Annese*, Giulia Coco, Lauro Tatsuo Kubota, and Mario Caironi*
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.4c01509
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.4c01509
Chitosan-Based Substrates for Flexible, Printable and Sustainable Organic Electronic Devices
Matheus F. F. das Neves*, Marcos Vinicius W. Barcote, Eliane S. da Silva, Maiara de J.Bassi, Leandro Benatto, Marcelo Eising, Camilla de Oliveira, Helton J. Alves, and Lucimara S. Roman*
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00217
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00217
Threshold Resistive Switching in Inorganic Lead-Free Cesium–Bismuth Iodide Perovskite for Neuron Emulation
Michalis Loizos, Konstantinos Chatzimanolis, Katerina Anagnostou, Konstantinos Rogdakis*, and Emmanuel Kymakis*
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00516
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00516
Impedimetric Immunosensor for 5-Methylcytosine Detection Based on a Poly(o-phenylenediamine)-Encapsulated Gold Nanoparticle Platform
Pedro C. M. Pizzol, Miquéias L. Portugal, Heitor F. Trevizan, Patrícia Monteiro Seraphim, and Marcos F. S. Teixeira*
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00216
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00216
Miniaturized Micrometer-Level Copper Wiring and Electrodes Based on Reverse-Offset Printing for Flexible Circuits
Kim Eiroma*, Asko Sneck, Olli Halonen, Tuomas Happonen, Henrik Sandberg, and Jaakko Leppäniemi*
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00230
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00230
Eco-Friendly Energy Storage and Energy Harvesting Devices Fabricated by Direct Laser Writing of Chitosan-Lignin-Boric Acid Substrates
Jahidul Islam, Rafael Resende Assis Silva, Alessandra Imbrogno, Caio G. Otoni, Rodrigo Martins, Luiz Henrique Capparelli Mattoso*, Aidan J. Quinn, and Daniela Iacopino*
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00234
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00234
Sustainable Multi-stack Printed Heaters on Paper with Efficient Heat Distribution
Dorina T. Papanastasiou*, Daniel Morais, Raquel Azevedo Martins, Elvira Fortunato, Rodrigo Martins, Pedro Barquinha, and Emanuel Carlos*
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00305
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00305
Enhancing Humidity Sensing with Functionalized Perylene-Coated Dispense Printed Electrodes: A Comparative Study
Sahira Vasquez, Samuel Morales-Cámara, Carmen Moraila, Yann Houeix, Isabel Blasco Pascual, José F. Salmerón, Antonio Rodríguez-Diéguez, Sara Rojas, Niko Münzenrieder, Luisa Petti, Paolo Lugli, and Almudena Rivadeneyra*
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00360
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c00360
Metal-Electrolyte-Semiconductor Capacitors to Quantify Interface State Density in Printed ZnO for Low-Voltage UV Photodetectors
Douglas Henrique Vieira, Gabriel Leonardo Nogueira, Rafael Furlan de Oliveira, Henrique Leonel Gomes, and Neri Alves*
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c01263
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c01263
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