2023-04-28 11:15:55
Scientists have created the world’s first transistor that is made of wood in any significant part.
The achievement is the work of a team consisting of, among others, Isak Engquist and Van Chinh Tran, from Linköping University in Sweden.
Transistors, which already have three quarters of a century of history, are considered by some to be as important an invention for humanity as the telephone, the light bulb or the bicycle. Today they are a crucial component of modern electronic devices, and are manufactured at the nanometer scale. A transistor regulates the current that passes through it and can also function as a switch.
In previous trials, transistors made of wood have only been able to regulate ion transport. And when the ions run out, the transistor stops working. The new transistor developed by Engquist and his colleagues, however, can operate constantly and is capable of regulating electrical flow without deterioration.
The researchers used balsa wood to create their transistor, as the technology requires a wood with no grains and a uniform structure. They removed the lignin, leaving only long cellulose fibers, alternating with channel-like voids where the lignin had been.
These channels were filled with a conductive plastic, a polymer called PEDOT:PSS, resulting in an electrically conductive material.
The wooden transistor. (Photo: Thor Balkhed)
The researchers used this material to build the transistor and have been able to show that it is capable of regulating electrical current and providing continuous function at a selected output level. You can also connect and disconnect, although with some delay: the shutdown takes about a second; ignition, about five seconds.
The creators of this unique device admit that it is slow and bulky, but stress that it works and that it can find applications for which conventional transistors would not be suitable.
Engquist and his colleagues report the technical details of their transistor in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), under the title “Electrical current modulation in wood electrochemical transistor.” (Fountain: NCYT de Amazings)
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