Nanocomposite
Depiction
The illustration
shows a theoretical simulation of the distribution of the polymer
on peptide
nanotubes and an electron microscopy image of the nanocomposite.
(October 15, 2015) Americans,
on average, replace their mobile phones every 22 months, junking more than 150
million phones a year in the process. When it comes to recycling and processing
all of this electronic waste, the World Health Organization reports that even
low exposure to the electronic elements can cause significant health risks.
Now, University of Missouri researchers are on the path to creating
biodegradable electronics by using organic components in screen displays. The
researchers’ advancements could one day help reduce electronic waste in the
world’s landfills.
“Current mobile phones and electronics are not biodegradable
and create significant waste when they’re disposed,” said Suchismita Guha,
professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the MU College of Arts
and Science. “This discovery creates the first biodegradable active layer in
organic electronics, meaning—in principle—we can eventually achieve full
biodegradability.”
Guha, along with graduate student Soma Khanra, collaborated
with a team from the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) in Brazil to develop
organic structures that could be used to light handheld device screens. Using
peptides, or proteins, researchers were able to demonstrate that these tiny
structures, when combined with a blue light-emitting polymer, could
successfully be used in displays.
“These peptides can self-assemble into beautiful
nanostructures or nanotubes, and, for us, the main goal has been to use these
nanotubes as templates for other materials,” Guha said. “By combining organic
semiconductors with nanomaterials, we were able to create the blue light needed
for a display. However, in order to make a workable screen for your mobile
phone or other displays, we’ll need to show similar success with red and green
light-emitting polymers.”