Shi, J. et al. Active biointegrated living electronics for managing inflammation. Science 384, 1023–1030 (2024).
Chen, C., Ding, S. & Wang, J. Digital health for aging populations. Nat. Med. 29, 1623–1630 (2023).
Wang, C. et al. Bioadhesive ultrasound for long-term continuous imaging of diverse organs. Science 377, 517–523 (2022).
Gao, W. et al. Fully integrated wearable sensor arrays for multiplexed in situ perspiration analysis. Nature 529, 509–514 (2016).
Musk, E. An integrated brain-machine interface platform with thousands of channels. J. Med. Internet Res. 21, e16194 (2019).
Chortos, A., Liu, J. & Bao, Z. Pursuing prosthetic electronic skin. Nat. Mater. 15, 937–950 (2016).
Williams, E. Environmental effects of information and communications technologies. Nature 479, 354–358 (2011).
Shi, H. H. et al. Sustainable electronic textiles towards scalable commercialization. Nat. Mater. 22, 1294–1303 (2023).
Chen, S. How much energy will AI really consume? The good, the bad and the unknown. Nature 639, 22–24 (2025).
Kim, H. J., Koo, J. H., Lee, S., Hyeon, T. & Kim, D.-H. Materials design and integration strategies for soft bioelectronics in digital healthcare. Nat. Rev. Mater. 10, 654–673 (2025).
Nikolka, M., Göke, S., Burkacky, O., Spiller, P. & Patel, M. Unlocking net-zero in semiconductor manufacturing. Nat. Rev. Electr. Eng. 1, 487–488 (2024).
McCulloch, I., Chabinyc, M., Brabec, C., Nielsen, C. B. & Watkins, S. E. Sustainability considerations for organic electronic products. Nat. Mater. 22, 1304–1310 (2023).
The Global E-Waste Monitor 2024–Electronic Waste Rising Five Times Faster than Documented e-Waste Recycling (United Nations, 2024); https://ewastemonitor.info/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GEM_2024_EN_11_NOV-web.pdf.
Yang, Q. et al. Ecoresorbable and bioresorbable microelectromechanical systems. Nat. Electron. 5, 526–538 (2022).
Jeong, H. et al. Novel eco-friendly starch paper for use in flexible, transparent and disposable organic electronics. Adv. Funct. Mater. 28, 1704433–1704442 (2018).
Zhang, Z. et al. Recyclable vitrimer-based printed circuit boards for sustainable electronics. Nat. Sustain. 7, 616–627 (2024).
Vũ, N. Đ et al. Gallium-catalyzed recycling of silicone waste with boron trichloride to yield key chlorosilanes. Science 388, 392–400 (2025).
Park, H. et al. Organic flexible electronics with closed-loop recycling for sustainable wearable technology. Nat. Electron. 7, 39–50 (2024).
Corzo, D. et al. High-performing organic electronics using terpene green solvents from renewable feedstocks. Nat. Energy 8, 62–73 (2023).
Min, J. et al. An autonomous wearable biosensor powered by a perovskite solar cell. Nat. Electron. 6, 630–641 (2023).
Cordella, M., Alfieri, F. & Sanfelix, J. Reducing the carbon footprint of ICT products through material efficiency strategies: a life cycle analysis of smartphones. J. Ind. Ecol. 25, 448–464 (2021).
Peng, P. & Shehabi, A. Regional economic potential for recycling consumer waste electronics in the United States. Nat. Sustain. 6, 93–102 (2023).
Moni, S. M., Mahmud, R., High, K. & Carbajales-Dale, M. Life cycle assessment of emerging technologies: a review. J. Ind. Ecol. 24, 52–63 (2020).
Strazza, C. et al. Technology Readiness Level—Guidance Principles for Renewable Energy Technologies Final Report (European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, 2017).
Huijbregts, M. A. J. et al. ReCiPe2016: a harmonised life cycle impact assessment method at midpoint and endpoint level. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 22, 138–147 (2017).
Dexcom G6 CGM system for personal use. Dexcom https://provider.dexcom.com/products/g6-personal-cgm (2025).
Williams, E. D., Ayres, R. U. & Heller, M. The 1.7 kilogram microchip: energy and material use in the production of semiconductor devices. Environ. Sci. Technol. 36, 5504–5510 (2002).
Yang, Y. et al. A laser-engraved wearable sensor for sensitive detection of uric acid and tyrosine in sweat. Nat. Biotechnol. 38, 217–224 (2020).
Xu, Y. et al. Pencil–paper on-skin electronics. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 18292–18301 (2020).
Bonnassieux, Y. et al. The 2021 flexible and printed electronics roadmap. Flex. Print. Electron. 6, 023001 (2021).
Schaubroeck, T. et al. Attributional & consequential life cycle assessment: definitions, conceptual characteristics and modelling restriction. Sustainability 13, 7386–7433 (2021).
Norgate, T. & Haque, N. Using life cycle assessment to evaluate some environmental impacts of gold production. J. Clean. Prod. 29–30, 53–63 (2012).
Bigum, M., Damgaard, A., Scheutz, C. & Christensen, T. H. Environmental impacts and resource losses of incinerating misplaced household special wastes (WEEE, batteries, ink cartridges and cables). Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 122, 251–260 (2017).
Global smartphone market soared 7% in 2024 as vendors prepare for tricky 2025. canalys.com https://canalys.com/newsroom/worldwide-smartphone-market-2024 (2025).
Yuk, H., Lu, B. & Zhao, X. Hydrogel bioelectronics. Chem. Soc. Rev. 48, 1642–1667 (2019).
Feig, V. R., Tran, H. & Bao, Z. Biodegradable polymeric materials in degradable electronic devices. ACS Cent. Sci. 4, 337–348 (2018).
Fujisaki, Y. et al. Transparent nanopaper-based flexible organic thin-film transistor array. Adv. Funct. Mater. 24, 1657–1663 (2014).
Material property data. MatWeb https://www.matweb.com/index.aspx (2025).
Fan, Z.-J. et al. Facile synthesis of graphene nanosheets via Fe reduction of exfoliated graphite oxide. ACS Nano 5, 191–198 (2011).
Worfolk, B. J. et al. Ultrahigh electrical conductivity in solution-sheared polymeric transparent films. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 14138–14143 (2015).
Someya, T., Bao, Z. & Malliaras, G. G. The rise of plastic bioelectronics. Nature 540, 379–385 (2016).
Liu, H., Liu, D., Yang, J., Gao, H. & Wu, Y. Flexible electronics based on organic semiconductors: from patterned assembly to integrated applications. Small 19, 2206938 (2023).
Chu, M. et al. Co-recycling of plastics and other waste materials. Nat. Rev. Clean Technol. 1, 320–332 (2025).
Dai, Y. et al. Soft hydrogel semiconductors with augmented biointeractive functions. Science 386, 431–439 (2024).
Piao, Z., Agyei Boakye, A. A. & Yao, Y. Environmental impacts of biodegradable microplastics. Nat. Chem. Eng. 1, 661–669 (2024).
Peng, J. et al. Surface coordination layer passivates oxidation of copper. Nature 586, 390–394 (2020).
Bell, E. L. et al. Directed evolution of an efficient and thermostable PET depolymerase. Nat. Catal. 5, 673–681 (2022).
Jiang, Y. et al. A universal interface for plug-and-play assembly of stretchable devices. Nature 614, 456–462 (2023).
Sacchi, R. et al. Prospective environmental impact assement (premise): a streamlined approach to producing databases for prospective life cycle assessment using integrated assessment models. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 160, 112311 (2022).
Yoshimoto, M. & Izumi, S. Recent progress of biomedical processor SoC for wearable healthcare application: a review. IEICE Trans. Electron. 102, 245–259 (2019).
Malmodin, J. & Lundén, D. The energy and carbon footprint of the global ICT and E&M sectors. Sustainability 10, 3027–3057 (2018).
Ercan M., Malmodin J., Bergmark P., Kimfalk E., & Nilsson E. Life cycle assessment of a smartphone. In Proc. ICT for Sustainability 2016 124–133 (Atlantis Press, 2016).
Suckling, J. & Lee, J. Redefining scope: the true environmental impact of smartphones? Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 20, 1181–1196 (2015).
Zhang, T. et al. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of circular consumer electronics based on IC recycling and emerging PCB assembly materials. Sci. Rep. 14, 29183 (2024).
Zhang, M. et al. Towards sustainable perovskite light-emitting diodes. Nat. Sustain. 8, 315–324 (2025).
Yang, C. et al. A bioinspired permeable junction approach for sustainable device microfabrication. Nat. Sustain. 7, 1190–1203 (2024).
Li, P. et al. Monolithic silicon for high spatiotemporal translational photostimulation. Nature 626, 990–998 (2024).
Malmodin J. & Lövehagen N. A methodology for simplified LCAs of electronic products. In 2024 Electronics Goes Green 2024+ (EGG) 1–12 (IEEE, 2024).
Zhang, Z. et al. DeltaLCA: comparative life-cycle assessment for electronics design. In Proc. ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, Vol. 8, 1–29 (ACM, 2024).
Teer J. & Bertolini M. Reaching Breaking Point: The Semiconductor and Critical Raw Material Ecosystem at a Time of Great Power Rivalry (The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, 2022); https://hcss.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Reaching-breaking-point-full-HCSS-2022-revised.pdf.
Pizzol, M. et al. Normalisation and weighting in life cycle assessment: quo vadis?. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 22, 853–866 (2017).
Wang, B., Tian, X., Stranks, S. D. & You, F. Transitioning photovoltaics to all-perovskite tandems reduces 2050 climate change impacts of PV sector by 16%. Environ. Sci. Technol. 59, 9540–9551 (2025).
Bass, F. M. A new product growth for model consumer durables. Manag. Sci. 50, 1825–1832 (2004).
Kaminski, J. Diffusion of innovation theory: theory in nursing informatics column. Can. J. Nurs. Inform. 6, 1–6 (2011).
Norton, J. A. & Bass, F. M. A diffusion theory model of adoption and substitution for successive generations of high-technology products. Manag. Sci. 33, 1069–1086 (1987).
Sultan, F., Farley, J. U. & Lehmann, D. R. A meta-analysis of applications of diffusion models. J. Mark. Res. 27, 70–77 (1990).
Managing Complications in Pregnancy and Childbirth: A Guide for Midwives and Doctors (World Health Organization, 2003).
Zhou, B. et al. Worldwide trends in hypertension prevalence and progress in treatment and control from 1990 to 2019: a pooled analysis of 1201 population-representative studies with 104 million participants. Lancet 398, 957–980 (2021).
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). WHO https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds) (2021).
Papolos, A., Narula, J., Bavishi, C., Chaudhry, F. A. & Sengupta, P. P. U.S. hospital use of echocardiography: insights from the nationwide inpatient sample. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 67, 502–511 (2016).
Pawar P. Apple Watch statistics by revenue, sales, series, market share, country, users and usage. Coolest Gadgets https://www.coolest-gadgets.com/apple-watches-statistics/ (2023).
Forti, V., Baldé, K. & Kuehr, R. E-waste Statistics: Guidelines on Classifications, Reporting and Indicators (United Nations Univ., 2018).
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Placed on Market Calculation Tool Manual (UNITAR, 2023); https://academy-ce.info/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ENG-EEE-POM-calculation-tool-manual.pdf.
Miller, T. R., Duan, H., Gregory, J., Kahhat, R. & Kirchain, R. Quantifying domestic used electronics flows using a combination of material flow methodologies: a US case study. Environ. Sci. Technol. 50, 5711–5719 (2016).
Weibull formulas. What are the basic lifetime distribution models used for non-repairable populations? NIST https://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/apr/section1/apr162.htm?utm (2025).
Ciroth, A., Muller, S., Weidema, B. & Lesage, P. Empirically based uncertainty factors for the pedigree matrix in ecoinvent. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 21, 1338–1348 (2016).
Uncertainties. Ecoinvent Support https://support.ecoinvent.org/uncertainties (2025).
Gong, J., Darling, S. B. & You, F. Perovskite photovoltaics: life-cycle assessment of energy and environmental impacts. Energy Environ. Sci. 8, 1953–1968 (2015).
Worrell, E. et al. Potentials and Policy Implications of Energy and Material Efficiency Improvement (United Nations, 1997).
Zio XT® long-term continuous monitoring service. iRhythm Technologies https://www.irhythmtech.com/us/en/solutions-services/irhythm-service/zio-xt (2025).
Aktiia 24/7. Blood pressure monitor. Aktiia https://aktiia.com/uk/blood-pressure-monitor (2024).

