Flexible electronics and devices with new materials

Flexible electronics is extensively explored for potential use in low-cost electronic products for various exciting applications, such as e-skin, health monitoring patches, and for various other lighting and sensing applications. Devices such as organic field-effect transistors are the basic building block in most of these systems and are significantly explored for wearable electronics because of their inherent flexibility, lightweight, low-cost, solution and low-temperature processing. Various new materials are being utilized to demonstrate these flexible devices. However, there are various challenges that need to be addressed before this technology can be utilized in real and reliable applications. In addition, to reduce the impact of e-waste on the environment, there is need to develop and optimize manufacturing processes suitable for green electronics. This chapter highlights various aspects of flexible thin-film transistors, materials, processes, and biodegradability.