Most portable electronics, however, are comprised of toxic materials such as gallium arsenide and others that work against the environment instead of for it — and that’s despite a recent push toward so-called greener devices that are easier to recycle. Now University of Madison-Wisconsin (UMW) professor Zhenqiang “Jack” Ma and his team have published a paper in Nature Communications proposing a surprising material from which to manufacture semiconductor chips: CNF, or cellulose nanofibril, a polymer ingredient used to create wood. The development of CNF from wood can be traced back to the 1980s. CNF, once extracted, can be made into some form of flexible nanopaper that will eventually dissolve back into the earth without any negative environmental effects.

CNF is a pseudo-plastic fluid that becomes gel-like at high temperatures, but viscous when shaken or disturbed. Using it in chips could lead not just to biodegradable devices, but aid in the development of flexible electronics for wearables, phones, and other kinds of suitable products.

The Earth-friendliness of CNF is an advantage of the ingredient as opposed to toxic materials. But CNF doesn’t come without other concerns – one being CNF’s susceptibility to expansion and shrinking when in contact with the elements due to its hydroscopic nature. To buttress CNF’s element-resistance, Ma and his team added epoxy coating, a water-resistant, acid-resistant, and solvent-resistant solution to the small semiconductor chip.

With Ma’s discovery of CNF as a more environmentally friendly ingredient for mobile chips and the rise of solar energy-powered batteries.