2023-05-06 10:15:30
A transistor plant? Are we at the dawn of a next industrial revolution? In any case, Swedish researchers have achieved the technical feat of using wood, a renewable and natural material, to regulate the flow of electricity without deterioration. The beginnings of biodegradable electronics?
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A very first wooden transistor, capable of regulating an electrical flow, has been developed in a laboratory in Sweden. More ecological than conventional transistors, it paves the way for other developments before being able to claim any practical use. Researchers from the University of Linköping, associated with the Royal Polytechnic School of Stockholm (KTH) succeeded in developing the very first wooden transistor in the world.
Remember that a transistor is an ordinary electronic component, made of silicon, used to control or amplify voltages and electric currents. They are found in all electronic devices, sometimes on microscopic scales. The performance here was therefore to make the wood conduct electricity.
Slow, cumbersome but effective
To achieve this technological feat, the researchers used balsa wood, a material whose structure is perfectly homogeneous. They extracted the lignin, thus favoring the presence of cellulose. They then filled the empty channels with a conductive plastic (PEDOT:PSS) so that the wooden block itself might pass the current.
Ultimately, this first wooden transistor is relatively slow and, above all, quite bulky. But the main thing is that it works, that it is able to regulate a flow of electricity without deteriorating. It can thus serve as a basis for future even more spectacular developments.
In any case, this type of wooden transistors does not lack advantages. Compared to silicon, wood is indeed a sustainable and renewable material, which means that this solution is much more environmentally friendly. Then, wood having a lower electrical conductivity, this means that it consumes less energy. This work has been published in the scientific journal PNAS.
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