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Industry News Industry News

BREAKTHROUGH IN
BIODEGRADABLE ZINC-

BASED CIRCUIT BOARDS MAGNETIC CLOAKING

REDUCE E-WASTE

Magnetic cloaks are devices that hide or shield sensors and electronic components leading to signal
an object from external magnetic fields by distortion, data errors and system malfunction. Now,
manipulating how they flow around an object. magnetic cloaks can be tailored to specific devices
Now, engineers at the University of Leicester have and components, using commercially available
Researchers at the University of Glasgow have Dr. Jon Harwell of the University of Glasgow James
demonstrated for the first time that practical cloaks materials, constituting a breakthrough.
developed a new method of printing zinc-based Watt School of Engineering, comments:
can be engineered using superconductors and soft
electronic circuits onto environmentally friendly Dr. Harold Ruiz of the University of Leicester School of
“ The breakthrough came when I was playing ferromagnets in forms that can be manufactured.
surfaces, including paper and bioplastics. Engineering, states:
around with electroplating zinc onto aluminium.
By using computational and theoretical techniques
Electronic waste (e-waste) is typically produced I found that if I did the exact opposite of all “ Magnetic cloaking is no longer a futuristic
such as advanced mathematical modelling and
by the materials currently used in the construction of the conventional industry methods designed concept tied to perfect analytical conditions. This
modern electronic devices and this development is to maximise the adhesion of the zinc to the high-performance simulations based on real-world study shows that practical, manufacturable cloaks
parameters, the team has developed a new physics-
aimed at applying biodegradability to reduce aluminium, then I could make a zinc pattern which for complex geometries are within reach, enabling
this e-waste. could easily be peeled away from the aluminium informed design framework that allows magnetic next-generation shielding solutions for science,
while remaining intact. After that it was easy cloaks to be created for objects of any shape. medicine and industry.
Until now, such cloaks have been theoretical and
to transfer it to basically whatever material we
wanted. confined to simple shapes such as cylinders. With Our next step is the fabrication and experimental
this innovation magnetic cloaks can be designed for testing of these magnetic cloaks using high-
The work demonstrates a major step toward irregular geometries, maintaining their effectiveness temperature superconducting tapes and soft
circular electronics, where devices are designed across a broad range of field strengths and magnetic composites. We are already planning
from the outset for re-use, recycling or safe follow-up studies and collaborations to bring these
frequencies.
degradation. Discarded devices already generate designs into real-world settings “.
tens of millions of tonnes of waste annually, so our Magnetic cloaks can potentially play a critical role Reference: ‘Concept Cloaking Device for Magnetic Shielding’,
research have far-reaching impacts for consumer in protecting sensitive electronics and sensors from Electronic Specifier, 22nd. December.
electronics, internet-of-things devices and magnetic interference. Unwanted magnetic fields
disposable sensors of the future. can disrupt the operation of precision instruments,
One of the major benefits of our approach is the
‘additive’ nature of our method. Because our
method only deposits the metal exactly where it
is needed, we can get away with using a lot less
metal than would be needed if we were etching
Traditional PCBs use copper for electrical conduction, patterns into a blank copper sheet, as is done in a Visit our website!
but here zinc was used to form metal tracks just five conventional PCB etching process. This also avoids
microns wide. Conductive zinc was electroplated the need for harsh acids, which are normally
onto a temporary carrier before being transferred used to etch the copper and thus produces less Why not head down to our website and
onto a biodegradable substrate to produce a chemical waste “.
circuit that exhibited performance levels that were read more news in our blog section?
Reference: Miles, S., Electronic Specifier, 27th. January.
comparable to conventional boards.
A life cycle assessment compared the potential Updated daily with hand-picked articles
environmental impact of the new PCBs with
from around the web...
conventional boards and it was found that the new
boards potentially enabled a 79 per cent reduction
in global warming risk and a 90 per cent reduction in institutionofelectronics.ac.uk
resource depletion.

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