“The semiconducting material, which cannot be seen with the naked eye, sits in between gold electrodes on the chip (pictured) that is a functional transistor. The electrodes serve as electricity input and output points. The chip, which is only 1 cm by 1cm, can hold close to a thousand transistor circuits.” Credit: ANUA new study has produced a semiconductor made from both organic and inorganic materials that is able to convert electricity into light with extremely efficiency. The research, by a team from The Australian National University, showed that the innovative, partly organic, semiconductor is sufficiently thin and flexible to potentially find applications in devices such as mobile phones that are bendable, as well as new types of environmentally friendly high-performance electronic devices made from organic materials that can biodegrade or be recycled.
As reported in the journal Advanced Materials [Zhang et al. Adv. Mater (2018) DOI: 10.1002/adma.201803986], in a process called chemical vapour deposition, the researchers grew the organic semiconductor component on a molecule-by-molecule basis, similar to 3D printing. The organic component, which is only as thick as a single atom and is made from carbon and hydrogen, forms part of this new semiconductor. The inorganic component, on the other hand, has a thickness of about two atoms, with the hybrid form able to convert electricity into light efficiently.
“We have the potential with this semiconductor to make mobile phones as powerful as today's supercomputers. The light emission from our semiconducting structure is very sharp, so it can be used for high-resolution displays and, since the materials are ultra-thin, they have the flexibility to be made into bendable screens and mobile phones in the near future”Ankur Sharma
The breakthrough is the first time that such an ultra-thin electronic component that combines useful semiconducting properties with an organic–inorganic hybrid structure that is sufficiently thin and flexible to be incorporated into new technologies such as display screens and bendable mobile phones has been developed. As researcher Ankur Sharma points out, “We have the potential with this semiconductor to make mobile phones as powerful as today's supercomputers. The light emission from our semiconducting structure is very sharp, so it can be used for high-resolution displays and, since the materials are ultra-thin, they have the flexibility to be made into bendable screens and mobile phones in the near future”.
The tests carried out by the team showed the performance of the semiconductor could be much more efficient than conventional semiconductors developed with inorganic materials such as silicon. They were able to characterise the opto-electronic and electrical properties of the materials to show it could be used as a future semiconductor component, and continue to explore how to grow the component on a larger scale for it to be commercialized.
With the large amounts of rubbish from discarded electrical and electronic devices all over the globe, known as e-waste, being a major problem for the environment, the study is welcome. In the US, for instance, around 3.4 million tons of e-waste is generated every year, with less than half actually being recycled.
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