{"ID":2889381,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.22193","arxiv_id":"2507.22193","title":"DissolvPCB: Fully Recyclable 3D-Printed Electronics with Liquid Metal Conductors and PVA Substrates","abstract":"We introduce DissolvPCB, an electronic prototyping technique for fabricating fully recyclable printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) using affordable FDM 3D printing, with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a water-soluble substrate and eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) as the conductive material. When obsolete, the PCBA can be easily recycled by immersing it in water: the PVA dissolves, the EGaIn re-forms into a liquid metal bead, and the electronic components are recovered. These materials can then be reused to fabricate a new PCBA. We present the DissolvPCB workflow, characterize its design parameters, evaluate the performance of circuits produced with it, and quantify its environmental impact through a lifecycle assessment (LCA) comparing it to conventional CNC-milled FR-4 boards. We further develop a software plugin that automatically converts PCB design files into 3D-printable circuit substrate models. To demonstrate the capabilities of DissolvPCB, we fabricate and recycle three functional prototypes: a Bluetooth speaker featuring a double-sided PCB, a finger fidget toy with a 3D circuit topology, and a shape-changing gripper enabled by Joule-heat-driven 4D printing. The paper concludes with a discussion of current technical limitations and opportunities for future directions.","short_abstract":"We introduce DissolvPCB, an electronic prototyping technique for fabricating fully recyclable printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) using affordable FDM 3D printing, with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a water-soluble substrate and eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) as the conductive material. When obsolete, the PCBA can b...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.22193","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.22193v1","authors":"[\"Zeyu Yan\",\"SuHwan Hong\",\"Josiah Hester\",\"Tingyu Cheng\",\"Huaishu Peng\"]","published":"2025-07-29T19:40:50Z","proceeding":"cs.HC","tasks":"[\"cs.HC\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}