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Breakthrough in organic electronics

5 years ago
Anonymous $L9wC17otzH

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190114114225.htm

The majority of our everyday electronics are based on inorganic semiconductors, such as silicon. Crucial to their function is a process called doping, which involves weaving impurities into the semiconductor to enhance its electrical conductivity. It is this that allows various components in solar cells and LED screens to work.

For organic -- that is, carbon-based -- semiconductors, this doping process is similarly of extreme importance. Since the discovery of electrically conducting plastics and polymers, a field for which a Nobel Prize was awarded in 2000, research and development of organic electronics has accelerated quickly. OLED-displays are one example which are already on the market, for example in the latest generation of smartphones. Other applications have not yet been fully realised, due in part to the fact that organic semiconductors have so far not been efficient enough.