Every year, people throw away billions of kilograms of old electronics. Broken phones, outdated laptops, damaged televisions and discarded appliances continue piling up around the world. Much of this waste contains valuable materials, including silver and critical minerals, but recovering those resources remains difficult because electronic components are designed to stay permanently attached. Now, engineers at Newcastle University have developed a new kind of electrically conductive glue that could change how electronics are built, repaired and recycled. The adhesive conducts electricity like solder, but unlike traditional bonding methods, it can later be safely separated using simple solutions such as acetone or alkaline water. The researchers believe the technology could help industries recover valuable materials more easily while reducing the environmental burden of electronic waste. “Electrically conductive adhesives have been around for a long time, and making them reversible provides the solution to a very real problem that urgently needs addressing,” said Bassam Aljohani, a PhD student at Newcastle University and first author of the paper. Study authors Bassam Aljohani and Dr Ama Asiedu-Asante pictured in …