ASCENT: Reconfigurable Metal-Free Microsystems with Alternative Power Sources

这一通过工程团队应对系统挑战(ASCENT)项目将为可持续微纳电子发展提供一套技术。新兴的物联网以及为实现完全“互联”的社会和基础设施所做的努力需要大规模的电子产品分布，而要以可持续的方式做到这一点，就需要开发环保的电子材料、电路和电源。研究小组将研究材料、低功率电路和替代电源(即非电池，以设计可以使用替代电源运行的可重新配置的无金属微系统)。这些系统将(I)完全由碳基材料组成，(Ii)由生物衍生能源运行，(Iii)提供当地环境指标的持续记录，以及(Iv)在其使用寿命结束时实现完全的生物降解或回收。新材料科学、电路设计和生物燃料电池的结合将使下一代绿色电子产品能够以更低的成本、更大的规模大规模生产，分布在我们的环境中，对生态的影响最小，同时实现与基于硅的微系统相媲美的性能。该项目的多学科团队的战略定位是将研究与增加工程课程的计划相结合，与当地微电子行业接触，支持国家基础设施和电子产品混合制造的努力。物联网的设备、微型和微系统应该部署在任何地方，并且可以随时随地访问。这些简单的前提条件意味着物联网电子产品的生产、分销和运营的可持续性面临重大挑战。值得注意的是，微型系统的必要数量需要大量使用不可持续的材料和昂贵的制造工艺。此外，如果不实现回收、环境集成或回收的手段，微系统的质量分布就相当于通过电子废物造成的大规模污染。为了应对这些挑战，该项目将设计由无金属、可生物降解材料、碳生物有机聚合物设备和电路以及酶燃料电池组成的传感通信节点。柠檬酸基弹性体和纤维素纳米复合材料将用于可生物降解的弹性体电路板和封装。低功率传感器和电路将由碳、生物、有机和聚合物设备开发。传感通信节点将包括分布在可生物降解电路板上的有机电化学晶体管阵列，以执行对湿度、温度、pH和挥发性有机化合物的连续监测。传感通信节点将由模块化生化燃料电池供电，该电池采用定制工程的直接电子转移型酶，将环保燃料来源(如葡萄糖和乳酸)转化为合适的电力。这种完全无金属的传感-通信节点将被集成，以传统的商业现成系统为基准，并在不同的模拟食品储存和供应链应用场景中进行演示。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Addressing Systems Challenges through Engineering Teams (ASCENT) project will enable a suite of technologies for sustainable micro- and nano-electronics development. The emerging Internet-of-Things and efforts to realize a fully “connected” society and infrastructure requires the mass distribution of electronics, and to do this in a sustainable manner requires the development of eco-friendly electronic materials, circuits, and power sources. The research team will investigate the materials, low-power circuits, and alternative power sources (i.e., non-battery to engineer reconfigurable-metal-free microsystems that can operate with alternative power sources). These systems will (i) be completely composed of carbon-based materials, (ii) be operated from a bio-derived power source, (iii) provide sustained recording of a local environmental metric and (iv) achieve complete biodegradation or recycling upon the end of their operational lifetime. The combination of novel materials science, circuit design, and biofuel cells will enable the next-generation green electronics that can be mass produced at lower cost, at larger scales, distributed throughout our environment, and have minimal ecological impact, while achieving comparable performance when compared to silicon-based microsystems. The project’s multidisciplinary team is strategically set for integrating research with a plan for adding to the engineering curriculum, engaging with the local microelectronics industries, and supporting the national infrastructure and efforts for hybrid manufacturing of electronics.Devices and micros and microsystems for the Internet-of-Things are supposed to be deployed everywhere and to be accessed anytime from anywhere. These simple prerequisites imply significant challenges for the sustainability of the production, distribution, and operation of Internet-of-Things electronics. Notably, the necessary quantity of a microsystem requires the mass use of non-sustainable materials and expensive manufacturing processes. Moreover, the mass distribution of microsystems is tantamount to large scale pollution via electronics waster, if means for recapture, environmental integration, or recycling are not realized. In response to these challenges, this project will engineer sensing-communications nodes composed of metal-free, biodegradable materials, carbon-biological-organic-polymer devices and circuits, and enzymatic fuel cells. Citric acid-based elastomers and cellulosic nanocomposites will be developed for biodegradable elastomeric circuit boards and packaging. Low-power sensors and circuits will be developed from carbon, biological, organic, and polymer-based devices. The sensing-communications node will include an array of organic electrochemical transistors distributed across the biodegradable circuit boards to perform continuous monitoring of humidity, temperature, pH, and volatile organic compounds. The sensing-communications node will be powered by a modular biochemical fuel cell, which employs custom engineered direct electron transfer-type enzymes that convert eco-friendly fuel sources, e.g., glucose and lactate, to suitable electrical power. This completely metal-free sensing-communications node will be integrated, benchmarked against conventional commercial-off-the-shelf systems, and demonstrated in different simulated food storage and supply chain application scenarios.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.