Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BMACS (Biomaterial based Microwave Antennas for Communication and Sensing applications)
Période du rapport: 2021-10-01 au 2023-09-30
• What is the problem/issue being addressed?
The unprecedented use of electronic devices with advanced technology increases its global footprint exponentially. Due to the high demand and low shelf life, these devices are eventually transformed into electronic waste because the electronic industry uses many unavoidable non-degradable materials. The waste due to electronic components is increasing day by day and only 20% is properly recycled globally, while the remaining becomes a threat to the ecosystem. It contaminates the flora and fauna, making the global life challenging both for human as well as other living organisms. The electronic waste specifically due to microwave devices is also significant and should be well addressed, since a normal mobile phone itself contains a minimum of two antennas. The usage of Antennas, Sensors and RFID`s are unavoidable but can be reduced by using biodegradable substrates for their fabrication, which is mainly addressed in this project. The usage of biomaterials for microwave application will reduce the electronic waste due to portable gadgets, sensors, Telemetry devices, Wireless equipment, and any device that uses RF circuits and antennas, thereby protecting the environment. This projects aims to lay a platform for the Principal Investigator in developing biodegradable microwave devices and there by continuing his future research activities in this promising research area for the benefit of environment.
• Why is it important for society?
There is a long-term serious health hazard due to electronic waste, and the environment was deeply deteriorated with its negative impact. This contrived human activity on environment is severely degrading the quality and healthy life on this planet. Understanding the depth of this issue the European parliament on 2021 adopted a new circular economy action plan, which aims to achieve a carbon neutral, environmentally sustainable and toxic free fully circular economy by 2050. The strategy used is to replace, reduce and reuse. The replacement of non-degradable materials with biodegradable material in electronic devices is beneficial to the nature even though it’s challenging. This project will support to achieve this goal by replacing the non-biodegradable components of electronic devices. Therefore, the findings of the projects are highly beneficial and unswervingly useful to the society.
• What are the overall objectives?
The overall objective is to identify suitable biomaterials, characterizing their dielectric properties at microwave frequency and using them for the design of devices. A compact material characterization device is developed and is used for the material characterization of various biomaterials to check their suitability as substrate for devices. Further, the aim is to design microwave antennas, filters and radio frequency identifiers (RFID) on these materials as biodegradable devices for potential applications. Also, the Individual fellowship aims to foster the professional career of Marie curie fellow.
The unprecedented use of electronic devices with advanced technology increases its global footprint exponentially. Due to the high demand and low shelf life, these devices are eventually transformed into electronic waste because the electronic industry uses many unavoidable non-degradable materials. The waste due to electronic components is increasing day by day and only 20% is properly recycled globally, while the remaining becomes a threat to the ecosystem. It contaminates the flora and fauna, making the global life challenging both for human as well as other living organisms. The electronic waste specifically due to microwave devices is also significant and should be well addressed, since a normal mobile phone itself contains a minimum of two antennas. The usage of Antennas, Sensors and RFID`s are unavoidable but can be reduced by using biodegradable substrates for their fabrication, which is mainly addressed in this project. The usage of biomaterials for microwave application will reduce the electronic waste due to portable gadgets, sensors, Telemetry devices, Wireless equipment, and any device that uses RF circuits and antennas, thereby protecting the environment. This projects aims to lay a platform for the Principal Investigator in developing biodegradable microwave devices and there by continuing his future research activities in this promising research area for the benefit of environment.
• Why is it important for society?
There is a long-term serious health hazard due to electronic waste, and the environment was deeply deteriorated with its negative impact. This contrived human activity on environment is severely degrading the quality and healthy life on this planet. Understanding the depth of this issue the European parliament on 2021 adopted a new circular economy action plan, which aims to achieve a carbon neutral, environmentally sustainable and toxic free fully circular economy by 2050. The strategy used is to replace, reduce and reuse. The replacement of non-degradable materials with biodegradable material in electronic devices is beneficial to the nature even though it’s challenging. This project will support to achieve this goal by replacing the non-biodegradable components of electronic devices. Therefore, the findings of the projects are highly beneficial and unswervingly useful to the society.
• What are the overall objectives?
The overall objective is to identify suitable biomaterials, characterizing their dielectric properties at microwave frequency and using them for the design of devices. A compact material characterization device is developed and is used for the material characterization of various biomaterials to check their suitability as substrate for devices. Further, the aim is to design microwave antennas, filters and radio frequency identifiers (RFID) on these materials as biodegradable devices for potential applications. Also, the Individual fellowship aims to foster the professional career of Marie curie fellow.
The fellowship work executed via three scientific work packages (WPs). WP1 aims to identify suitable biomaterials and characterizing their dielectric permittivity and loss tangent. Thus the project started by identifying various available biomaterials and their dielectric parameters. A material characterization device (MCD) is developed indegenoiously to identify the properties of these materials and the results are presented in international conference (3rd URSI Atlantic / Asia-Pacific Radio Science Meeting – 2022, AT-AP-RASC-Gran Canaria, Spain). These, low cost planar resonators are good candidate for real time microwave sensing and characterization for any researcher working in this field. The image of the developed device for material property identification is shown in figure attached.
This material characterization device is used to characterize few biomaterials such as Arecanut palm leaf, various Alginate materials and chitosan material for identifying them to use in WP2. In WP2 arecanut palm leaf is investigated to use as a substrate material for microwave (antenna, Filters, RFID and transmission lines) applications as part of a consumable microwave device, which was not tried before. Using the properties obtained for arecanut palm leaf, microwave devices are designed in Ansys HFSS software. In WP3 the arecanut palm leaf based antenna, transmission line, filter and RFID are fabricated and measured using vector network analyzer. The outcome of the work was presented and published in European conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP-2023, Florence - Italy). It is found that, the low dielectric constant and high loss factor of the areca nut palm leaf could be used for devices utilizing the scattering property, where the loss of material is not much influence on the device performance. Because of the ecofriendly nature of these biomaterials, further research is undergoing on both Alginate and chitosan based materials. The process of designing antennas and RFID are continuing on these materials, since the fellow will pursue his future career in this field. The results and development of the projects were disseminated primarily through the website and open repository, which will be updated regularly.
This material characterization device is used to characterize few biomaterials such as Arecanut palm leaf, various Alginate materials and chitosan material for identifying them to use in WP2. In WP2 arecanut palm leaf is investigated to use as a substrate material for microwave (antenna, Filters, RFID and transmission lines) applications as part of a consumable microwave device, which was not tried before. Using the properties obtained for arecanut palm leaf, microwave devices are designed in Ansys HFSS software. In WP3 the arecanut palm leaf based antenna, transmission line, filter and RFID are fabricated and measured using vector network analyzer. The outcome of the work was presented and published in European conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP-2023, Florence - Italy). It is found that, the low dielectric constant and high loss factor of the areca nut palm leaf could be used for devices utilizing the scattering property, where the loss of material is not much influence on the device performance. Because of the ecofriendly nature of these biomaterials, further research is undergoing on both Alginate and chitosan based materials. The process of designing antennas and RFID are continuing on these materials, since the fellow will pursue his future career in this field. The results and development of the projects were disseminated primarily through the website and open repository, which will be updated regularly.
The nature of the project demands continuous improvement in material properties and design of new biodegradable devices, which is continuous challenge even in future. Thus, the project and its goals are relevant in the past, present and will be highly significant in future. Since the science and technology for the development of biodegradable microwave devices is continuing and progressively updating. Thus, new materials as well as new devices needs to be developed by using the results produced during the project tenure to produce state of the art devices. The possibility of using naturally available biomaterial for scattering applications rather than radiating applications is the important initial findings of the project. Arecanut palm leaf (or similar material) based Radiofrequency identifiers can be a potential replacement for “use and throw” RFID`s. Since the usage of “use and throw” devices is extremely high and the possibility to replace them with the proposed biodegradable products will support the European green deal aiming to protect the environment. Few alginate-based biomaterials are characterized and will be used for the design of microwave antennas and devices so that this can be used for future biomedical applications as sensors. Alginate materials are commonly used in wound care applications, so most promising applications are expecting from this work. Successful development of such devices will help biomedical industry for smart and better wound/burn management. This will be highly helpful for the medical practitioners or patients for the wound care.
As an outcome, I was successful in getting a tenure track faculty position in Europe, which aims to produce biodegradable sensors. So the research knowledge and outcome, which I gathered during MSCA IF, will be utilized for the development of green electronics to accelerate journey towards the goal of European economy action plan, and also to motivate the young researchers towards the need of sustainable environment.
As an outcome, I was successful in getting a tenure track faculty position in Europe, which aims to produce biodegradable sensors. So the research knowledge and outcome, which I gathered during MSCA IF, will be utilized for the development of green electronics to accelerate journey towards the goal of European economy action plan, and also to motivate the young researchers towards the need of sustainable environment.