Fetal movement counting is a key indicator of fetal health. While ultrasound is the hospital gold standard, its use is limited to a short time due to potential tissue harm. This work presents a novel wearable system for fetal movement localization using a 6-channel piezoelectric sensor array integrated into a maternal abdominal garment. A comprehensive phantom-based testbed with a robotic arm simulates fetal kicks across predefined abdominal zones. Multi-domain features were extracted from sen-sor signals and used to train various machine learning models for kick localization. The proposed system achieved a classification accuracy of 87.4 % (F1-score: 86.5 %) in localizing fetal kicks across nine distinct regions of the maternal abdomen using a multilayer perceptron. These findings demonstrate the potential of sensor-machine learning fusion for spatial fetal monitoring and early detection of complications in non-clinical environments

As global electronics production and e-waste generation accelerate alongside efforts to reduce carbon emissions, the need for transformative solutions in the electronics sector has become urgent. Therefore, to support the transition to greener electronics, this work reviews existing research and legislation relevant to the field and considers the perspectives and ongoing efforts of the EU Green Electronics Working Group (comprised of 12 green electronics-focused Horizon Europe projects) to identify and define the most important aspects of green electronics. Given the absence of a widely accepted definition of what makes electronics truly “green,” the most critical aspects are clarified to support the development of a common, unified definition: Electronicsthat, when measured against their alternatives over their whole lifecycle and value chain,have a reduced environmental impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, toxicity, and resource depletion and avoid burden shifting from one impact to another or along the value chain, while fulfilling a given function. A set of recommendations and best practices, informed by the latest advancements and ongoing research developments in green electronics, is then provided to address the entire lifecycle of electronic devices. These strategies offer a framework to guide the development and adoption of greener electronics.

This article presents a novel, high-performance, screen-printable zinc (Zn)-based ink and a chemical sintering process that significantly improves long-term air stability. The ink formulation combines micro- and nanoparticles, enhancing electrical conductivity—up to 10 times compared to microparticle-only inks. Micro-fibrillated cellulose (Exilva) is used as a sustainable binder, aligning with eco-friendly electronics initiatives. Besides the formulation, the benefit of a multistep chemical sintering approach, based on the sequential immersion of the printed structures in acetic acid solution, is demonstrated. If with a more conventional one-step acetic acid sintering treatment a conductivity of ≈3.18 × 10⁵ S m−¹ can be achieved, the use of the multi-step process further enhances both conductivity, increasing conductivity ≈2.6 times to ≈8.37 × 10⁵ S m−¹ (sheet resistance 0.06 Ω □−¹), it is the highest reported value achieved through chemical sintering—just 20 times lower than bulk Zn (≈16.6 × 10⁶ S m−¹). Importantly, the ink, following the proposed chemical sintering and without encapsulation also exhibits outstanding air stability, maintaining functionality with only an ≈11% increase in resistance after 6 months in ambient conditions (40–60% RH). By offering superior durability, flexibility, and, most notably, unprecedented air stability, this Zn-based ink presents a significant advancement for sustainable and flexible electronics.

The development of electronics with net zero carbon emissions through more efficient and environmentally friendly materials and processes is still a challenge. Here, alternative chemical synthesis routes of metal conductive nanoparticles, based on biodegradable materials are explored, such as nickel, iron–nickel alloy and iron nanoparticles, to be used, in the long term, as fillers in inks for inject printing. Thus, Ni and FeNi metal nanoparticles of 25–12 nm, forming aggregates of 614–574 nm, respectively, are synthesized in water in the presence of a polyol and a reducing agent and under microwave heating that enables a more uniform and fast heating. Iron nanoparticles of 120 ± 40 nm are synthesized in polyol that limits the aggregation and the oxidation degree. Commercial metal nanoparticles of iron and nickel, are coated with ethylene glycol and used for comparison. The conductivity of nanoparticles when pressed into pellets remains similar for both commercial and synthesized samples. However, when deposited on a strip line and heated, synthesized Ni, FeNi, and Fe nanoparticles show significant conductivity and interesting magnetic properties. It is demonstrated that the nanosize facilitates sintering at reduced temperatures and the capping agents prevent oxidation, resulting in promising conductive fillers for printed electronic applications. 

With the increasing global demand for net-zero carbon emissions, actions to address climate change have gained momentum among policymakers and the public. The urgent need for a sustainable economy is underscored by the mounting waste crisis in landfills and oceans. However, the proliferation of distributed electronic devices poses a significant challenge due to the resulting electronic waste. To combat this issue, the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly materials for these devices is imperative. Cellulose, an abundant and CO2-neutral substance with a long history of diverse applications, holds great potential. By integrating electrically interactive components with cellulosic materials, innovative biobased composites have been created, enabling the fabrication of bulk electroactive paper and the establishment of new, potentially more sustainable manufacturing processes for electronic devices. This review explores recent advances in bulk electroactive paper, including the fundamental interactions between its constituents, manufacturing techniques, and large-scale applications in the field of electronics. Furthermore, it addresses the importance and challenges of scaling up production of electroactive paper, highlighting the need for further research and development.

Hydrogels are of great importance for functionalizing sensors and microfluidics, and poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEG-DMA) is often used as a viscosifier for printable hydrogel precursor inks. In this study, 1–10 kDa PEG-DMA based hydrogels were characterized by gravimetric and electrochemical methods to investigate the diffusivity of small molecules and proteins. Swelling ratios (SRs) of 14.43–9.24, as well as mesh sizes ξ of 3.58–6.91 nm were calculated, and it was found that the SR correlates with the molar concentration of PEG-DMA in the ink (MCI) (SR = 0.1127 × MCI + 8.3256, R2 = 0.9692) and ξ correlates with the molecular weight (Mw) (ξ = 0.3382 × Mw + 3.638, R2 = 0.9451). To investigate the sensing properties, methylene blue (MB) and MB-conjugated proteins were measured on electrochemical sensors with and without hydrogel coating. It was found that on sensors with 10 kDa PEG-DMA hydrogel modification, the DPV peak currents were reduced to 92 % for MB, 73 % for MB-BSA, and 23 % for MB-IgG. To investigate the diffusion properties of MB(-conjugates) in hydrogels with 1–10 kDa PEG-DMA, diffusivity was calculated from the current equation. It was found that diffusivity increases with increasing ξ. Finally, the release of MB-BSA was detected after drying the MB-BSA-containing hydrogel, which is a promising result for the development of hydrogel-based reagent reservoirs for biosensing. 

Porous carbon materials are common materials used for sensor and absorbent applications. A novel approach for functionalizing porous carbons through the impregnation of porous carbon black with benzoxazine monomers, followed by thermal polymerization is introduced herein. The method not only establishes a new avenue for the functionalization of porous carbons but also endows the resulting material with both copper ion-binding and sensing properties. We showcase the versatility of the technique by illustrating that the polymerization of phenols with benzoxazine monomers serves as an extra tool to customize absorption- and sensing properties. Experimental validation involved testing the method on carbon black as a porous substrate, which was impregnated with both bisphenol-a benzoxazine and a combination of bisphenol-a benzoxazine and alizarin. The resulting materials were assessed for their dual functionality as both an absorbent and a sensor for copper ions by varied copper ion concentrations and exposure times. The dye absorption test demonstrated a notable capacity to accumulate copper ions from dilute solutions. Electrochemical characterization further confirmed the effectiveness of the modified carbons, as electrodes produced from inks were successful in detecting copper ions accumulated from 50 μM Cu2+ solutions. With this work, we aspire to set the steppingstone towards a facile functionalization of porous carbon materials towards water purification applications. © 2024 The Authors

This work demonstrates sensitive and low-cost piezoelectric sensors on skin-friendly, ultrathin, and conformable substrates combined with organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) for the detection and amplification of alternating low-voltage input signals. The fully screen-printed (SP) piezoelectric sensors were manufactured on commercially available tattoo paper substrates, while the all-printed OECTs, relying on an extended gate electrode architecture, were manufactured either by solely using SP or by combining SP and aerosol jet printing (AJP) on PET substrates. Applying a low-voltage signal (±25 mV) to the gate electrode of the SP+AJP OECT results in approximately five times higher current modulation as compared to the fully SP reference OECT. The tattoo paper-based substrate enables transfer of the SP piezoelectric sensor to the skin, which in turn allows for radial pulse monitoring when combined with the SP+AJP OECT; this is possible due to the ability of the conformable sensor to convert mechanical vibrations into voltage signals along with the highly sensitive current modulation ability of the transistor device to further amplify the output signal. The results reported herein pave the way toward all-printed fully conformable wearable devices with high sensitivity to be further utilized for the real-time monitoring of electrophysiological signals.

Abstract This study reports on the first all-printed vertically stacked organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) operating in accumulation mode; the devices, relying on poly([4,4?-bis(2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy)-2,2?-bithiophen-5,5?-diyl]-alt-[thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-2,5-diyl]) (pgBTTT) as the active channel material, are fabricated via a combination of screen and inkjet printing technologies. The resulting OECTs (W/L ≈5) demonstrate good switching performance; gm, norm ≈13 mS cm?1, µC* ≈21 F cm?1 V?1 s?1, ON?OFF ratio > 104 and good cycling stability upon continuous operation for 2 h. The inkjet printing process of pgBTTT is established by first solubilizing the polymer in dihydrolevoglucosenone (Cyrene), a non-toxic, cellulose-derived, and biodegradable solvent. The resulting ink formulations exhibit good jettability, thereby providing reproducible and stable p-type accumulation mode all-printed OECTs with high performance. Besides the environmental and safety benefits of this solvent, this study also demonstrates the assessment of how the solvent affects the performance of spin-coated OECTs, which justifies the choice of Cyrene as an alternative to commonly used harmful solvents such as chloroform, also from a device perspective. Hence, this approach shows a new possibility of obtaining more sustainable printed electronic devices, which will eventually result in all-printed OECT-based logic circuits operating in complementary mode.

The transition to a sustainable society is driving the development of green electronic solutions designed to have a minimal environmental impact. One promising route to achieve this goal is to construct electronics from biobased materials like cellulose, which is carbon neutral, non‐toxic, and recyclable. This is especially true for internet‐of‐things devices, which are rapidly growing in number and are becoming embedded in every aspect of our lives. Here, paper‐based sensor circuits are demonstrated, which use triboelectric pressure sensors to help elderly people communicate with the digital world using an interface in the form of an electronic “book”, which is more intuitive to them. The sensors are manufactured by screen printing onto flexible paper substrates, using in‐house developed cellulose‐based inks with non‐hazardous solvents. The triboelectric sensor signal, generated by the contact between a finger and chemically modified cellulose, can reach several volts, which can be registered by a portable microcontroller card and transmitted by Bluetooth to any device with an internet connection. Apart from the microcontroller (which can be easily removed), the whole system can be recycled at the end of life. A triboelectric touch interface, manufactured using printed electronics on flexible paper substrates, using cellulose‐based functional inks is demonstrated. These metal‐free green electronics circuits are implemented in an “electronic book” demonstrator, equipped with wireless communication that can control remote devices, as a step toward sustainable and recyclable internet‐of‐things devices.