Article

Advances in Biodegradable Electronic Materials for Wearable Devices

Sajad Hussain , Muhammad Sohail Abbas
    Received
    13 Oct 2025
    Published
    23 Nov 2023

    Abstract

    The rapid expansion of wearable electronics has brought significant benefits to healthcare, fitness, and human–machine interaction, but it has also intensified concerns about sustainability and electronic waste. Biodegradable solutions have been an evolutionary concept whereby biodegradable devices can allow reliable functionality over their life cycle and then break down into non-toxic byproducts. This review features a survey of recent developments in three backbones of biodegradable wearable electronics, including conductive conveyance, ephemeral circuits, and environmentally friendly power sources. Conductive polymers, such as modified polyaniline, polypyrrole, or PEDOT-based polymer composites, have been optimized for both conductivity and controlled degradation, proving useful in flexible electronics and bioelectronic interfaces. Transient circuits have demonstrated the potential of functional systems designed to dissolve after use. They are relevant to medical implants and disposable environmental sensors, constructed from dissolvable substrates, biodegradable conductive materials, and resorbable encapsulants. In the meantime, advances in green power sources, such as biodegradable batteries, supercapacitors, and energy scavengers, have made it possible to develop autonomous wearable platforms. Despite these developments, issues of performance and degradation balance, system-level integration, and commercial viability at production scale persist. Moving forward, it will be essential that interdisciplinary research combines materials science, device engineering, environmental sustainability analysis, and regulatory models to achieve a truly visionary scenario of fully transient, green wearable electronics that foster technical innovation in line with environmental accountability.

    Keywords

    Biodegradable Electronics, Conductive Polymers, Green Power Sources, Transient Circuits, Wearable Devices

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