Fungi-produced Pigment Shows Promise as Semiconductor Material
June 6, 2018 | Oregon State UniversityEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Researchers at Oregon State University are looking at a highly durable organic pigment, used by humans in artwork for hundreds of years, as a promising possibility as a semiconductor material.
Findings suggest it could become a sustainable, low-cost, easily fabricated alternative to silicon in electronic or optoelectronic applications where the high-performance capabilities of silicon aren't required.
Optoelectronics is technology working with the combined use of light and electronics, such as solar cells, and the pigment being studied is xylindein.
"Xylindein is pretty, but can it also be useful? How much can we squeeze out of it?" said Oregon State University physicist Oksana Ostroverkhova. "It functions as an electronic material but not a great one, but there's optimism we can make it better."
Xylindien is secreted by two wood-eating fungi in the Chlorociboria genus. Any wood that's infected by the fungi is stained a blue-green color, and artisans have prized xylindein-affected wood for centuries.
The pigment is so stable that decorative products made half a millennium ago still exhibit its distinctive hue. It holds up against prolonged exposure to heat, ultraviolet light and electrical stress.
"If we can learn the secret for why those fungi-produced pigments are so stable, we could solve a problem that exists with organic electronics," Ostroverkhova said. "Also, many organic electronic materials are too expensive to produce, so we're looking to do something inexpensively in an ecologically friendly way that's good for the economy."
With current fabrication techniques, xylindein tends to form non-uniform films with a porous, irregular, "rocky" structure.
"There's a lot of performance variation," she said. "You can tinker with it in the lab, but you can't really make a technologically relevant device out of it on a large scale. But we found a way to make it more easily processed and to get a decent film quality."
Ostroverkhova and collaborators in OSU's colleges of Science and Forestry blended xylindein with a transparent, non-conductive polymer, poly(methyl methacrylate), abbreviated to PMMA and sometimes known as acrylic glass. They drop-cast solutions both of pristine xylindein and a xlyindein-PMMA blend onto electrodes on a glass substrate for testing.
They found the non-conducting polymer greatly improved the film structure without a detrimental effect on xylindein's electrical properties. And the blended films actually showed better photosensitivity.
"Exactly why that happened, and its potential value in solar cells, is something we'll be investigating in future research," Ostroverkhova said. "We'll also look into replacing the polymer with a natural product - something sustainable made from cellulose. We could grow the pigment from the cellulose and be able to make a device that's all ready to go.
"Xylindein will never beat silicon, but for many applications, it doesn't need to beat silicon," she said. "It could work well for depositing onto large, flexible substrates, like for making wearable electronics."
This research, whose findings were recently published in MRS Advances, represents the first use of a fungus-produced material in a thin-film electrical device.
"And there are a lot more of the materials," Ostroverkhova said. "This is just first one we've explored. It could be the beginning of a whole new class of organic electronic materials."
Suggested Items
Kimball Electronics Announces Annual Meeting of Share Owners
09/27/2024 | BUSINESS WIREKimball Electronics, Inc. announced the Company will hold its Annual Meeting of Share Owners on Friday, November 15, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (EST).
American Standard Circuits to Exhibit at SMTA International Conference and Expo
09/26/2024 | American Standard CircuitsAmerican Standard Sunstone Circuits will be exhibiting at SMTA International 2024, Oct. 22-24, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois.
Pricer Partners in the Eurostars-funded Project SELECT to Advance Sustainable Electronics
09/25/2024 | PricerPricer AB is pleased to announce its participation in the SELECT (Sustainable Electronics for Energy Harvesting Applications) project, which has received funding through the Eurostars program, the largest international funding program for SMEs collaborating on R&D projects.
Altus Group Introduces Innovative BGA Reballing Solution to Meet Growing Sustainability Demands
09/25/2024 | Altus GroupAltus Group, a leading distributor of capital equipment in the UK and Ireland, has introduced an advanced BGA re-balling solution to address the electronics industry's growing focus on sustainability and cost-efficiency.
Excellon Automation to Exhibit at AEMS 2024
09/25/2024 | Excellon AutomationExcellon Automation will be displaying at the Anaheim Electronics and Manufacturing Show on October 2nd and 3rd at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.