A transistor system? Are we at the beginning of the 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 degradation. The beginnings of biodegradable electronics?
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A very first wooden transistor capable of regulating an electric flow was developed in a laboratory in Sweden. More ecological than conventional transistors, it paves the way for other developments before they can claim any practical use. Researchers at Linköping University, associated with the Royal Polytechnic School of Stockholm (KTH), have succeeded in developing the world’s first-ever wooden transistor.
Remember that a transistor is a common silicon electronic component used to control or amplify voltage and electrical current. They are found in all electronic devices, sometimes on a microscopic scale. So the achievement here was 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, favoring the presence of cellulose. They then filled the empty channels with a conductive plastic (PEDOT:PSS) to allow the block of wood itself to conduct electricity.
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 current flow without deteriorating. It can thus serve as a basis for even more spectacular developments in the future.
In any case, this type of wooden transistors is not lacking in advantages. In fact, compared to silicon, wood is a sustainable and renewable material, making this solution much more environmentally friendly. Then wood has a lower electrical conductivity, which means that it consumes less energy. This work was published in the scientific journal PNAS.