The science of microrecycling: a review of selective synthesis of materials from electronic waste

Manufacturing challenges are anticipated to become worse in the coming decades owing to global material and energy constraints combined with environmental issues associated with conventional processes. Addressing these difficulties calls for a significant amount of research to be conducted to establish robust new technologies that are cost-effective and energy efficient, while at the same time minimizing environmental pollution. The new concept of ‘microrecycling’ has been invented to enable sustainable processing of electronic waste (e-waste) to convert waste into products or inputs for other manufacturing systems. In this article, we review some of the standout emerging technologies that enable microrecycling to generate value-added materials from e-waste.