Review on sustainable flexible electronics: exploring the potential of chitosan, cellulose starch, silk fibroin and gelatin

The inspiration obtained from nature has a lot to do with the rapid development of multimodal flexible electronics, providing boundless insights into their maintenance in terms of structure, material, and functions. However, there is the pursuit of sustainability, the foundational materials of such devices need to be consistent with the aspects of green electronics. Although the plastic electronics have gained consideration, they present significant ecological challenges. To react to such responses, one can trace an obvious transition to usage of natural material for flexible electronics that seeks to achieve environmentally harmonious solutions. This shift in paradigm opens new horizons for the invention of flexible electronic gadgets which are both environmentally wholesome and plastic. This review aims at providing a complete discussion on the unique molecular architectures, properties and recent advances in exploiting such materials for revolutionary smart flexible electronics; in the forms of energy harvesters, storage devices, and sensors.