November 2, 2025
Wood you plug this in?
Printed circuit board substrates derived from lignocellulose nanofibrils
Wood circuit boards spark safety fears, unit wars, and rat jokes
TLDR: Researchers demoed a working computer mouse using a wood-derived circuit board to fight e-waste, but the comments erupted over fire safety (UL 94 V-0), confusing units, and rat-chewing fears. The idea is promising, yet the crowd says it needs real-world durability, standards, and proof before it’s more than a cool prototype.
Scientists rolled out a wood-based printed circuit board (the flat board that holds electronics) and even built a working eco mouse with inkjet-printed circuits and a wood-plastic shell. Cue the comments: the community instantly split into camps of green hype vs. hold-my-solder skepticism. The loudest alarm bell? Fire safety. One commenter declared it “dead on arrival” without proof it meets UL 94 V-0, the common flammability rating for plastics in electronics, and compared it to classic glass-fiber epoxy boards (aka FR4) that don’t burst into flames. Another mini-brawl ignited over units: the paper says “10 kW/h per kg,” which sparked unit nerd rage demanding proper SI usage and clarity on energy vs. power.
Then came the memes. A joker warned to keep the wood boards away from the microbes that eat wood—and to not get it wet. The spiciest twist? A reader shared a $12,000 EV repair after rats gnawed soy-based wire insulation, turning the thread into “Will rats eat your motherboard?” panic. Amid the snark about “eco buzzword salad,” a few voices noted the big idea—less e-waste from greener materials—but the vibe was clear: cool demo, lots of homework before anyone ships wood PCBs into your laptop. link
Key Points
- •The study proposes lignocellulose nanofibrils (LCNF) from lignin-rich cellulose pulp as a sustainable PCB substrate.
- •LCNF is produced by fibrillation at a reported energy of 10 kW/h per kg and consolidated via thermal and pressure treatment (Δp = 50–1500 kN, ΔT = 30–120 °C).
- •The LCNF substrates were characterized for mechanical (flexural, tensile), dimensional, electrical, surface, and thermal properties.
- •A computer mouse demonstrator was built using an LCNF PCB with inkjet-printed circuits and assembled components; the housing was 3D-printed from Wood-PLA.
- •The work argues LCNF-based PCBs could help reduce e-waste compared with conventional glass fibre-reinforced epoxy substrates.