In full bloom: A
scanning electron microscopy image produced by Jessica Wang
of a vertical
tetraanaline semiconductor crystal.
UCLA-led breakthrough could literally reshape solar cells
and electronic devices
(October 4, 2015) Our
smartphones, tablets, computers and biosensors all have improved because of the
rapidly increasing efficiency of semiconductors.
Since the turn of the 21st century, organic, or
carbon-based, semiconductors have emerged as a major area of interest for
scientists because they are inexpensive, plentiful and lightweight, and they
can conduct current in ways comparable to inorganic semiconductors, which are
made from metal-oxides or silicon.
Now, materials scientists from the California NanoSystems
Institute at UCLA have discovered a way to make organic semiconductors more
powerful and more efficient.
Their breakthrough was in creating an improved structure for
one type of organic semiconductor, a building block of a conductive polymer
called tetraaniline. The scientists showed for the first time that tetraaniline
crystals could be grown vertically.
The advance could eventually lead to vastly improved
technology for capturing solar energy. In fact, it could literally reshape solar
cells. Scientists could potentially create “light antennas” — thin, pole-like
devices that could absorb light from all directions, which would be an
improvement over today’s wide, flat panels that can only absorb light from one
surface.