Finnish professor leading development of printable, biodegradable electronics

Matti Mäntysalo, a professor at Tampere University in Finland, is leading research into printed electronics that use additive manufacturing techniques and biodegradable materials to reduce energy consumption and waste in electronics production. The work centers on alternatives to traditional high-temperature, chemically intensive manufacturing processes.

Mäntysalo’s research group employs printing techniques, including screen printing, inkjet printing, and roll-to-roll production, to build electronic structures layer by layer. The approach adds material only where needed, avoiding the metal etching and chemical use common in conventional printed circuit board manufacturing.

“We add material only where it is needed. That way, we avoid a large share of chemicals and save enormous amounts of energy,” stated Mäntysalo.

Lower processing temperatures enable the use of bio-based and biodegradable substrates that could not withstand traditional manufacturing heat levels.

“When the temperature goes down, manufacturing consumes less energy. When less energy is used, CO₂ emissions decrease. The chain is very direct,” he explained.

“At low temperatures, we can introduce bio-based or even biodegradable materials that simply would not survive traditional electronics manufacturing processes.”

The research extends to energy storage components made without critical raw materials. Mäntysalo’s team has studied supercapacitors built from carbon, water, salt, paper, plastic, and aluminum – all materials comparable to those in beverage packaging. The work targets applications where performance requirements were modest enough to allow for material tradeoffs.

One focus area involves biodegradable electronics for agricultural and environmental monitoring. Through the SOIL project with VTT (Technical Research Center of Finland), which ran from 2023 to 2025, researchers developed biodegradable sensors using materials typically found in soil. The sensors were designed to measure field conditions and decompose in place without altering soil composition.

There are healthcare applications too, which include wearable sensors for remote monitoring of respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, heart rate, temperature, and cardiac function. Mäntysalo said that affordable home diagnostic devices could reduce healthcare costs while extending services to remote regions.