Researchers at Linköping University and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology have engineered the world’s first woodenThis is according to a press release by the institutions published on Thursday.
“We’ve come up with an unprecedented principle. Yes, the wood transistor is slow and bulky, but it does work, and has huge development potential,” said Isak Engquist, senior associate professor at the Laboratory for Organic Electronics at Linköping University.but previous trials resulted in versions that could regulate ion transport only. Making matters worse was the fact that when the ions ran out, the transistor stopped functioning.
The new transistor, on the other hand, can function continuously and regulate electricity flow without deteriorating. This is partially due to the balsa wood used to create the new device, as the technology involved requires a grainless wood that is evenly structured throughout.The researchers made several changes to the wood: they removed the lignin, leaving only long cellulose fibers with channels where the lignin had been.
“We didn’t create the wood transistor with any specific application in mind. We did it because we could. This is basic research, showing that it’s possible, and we hope it will inspire further research that can lead to applications in the future,” concluded Isak Engquist
Previous attempts at creating wooden transistors could only regulate ion transport, but the new device can continuously regulate electricity flow without deteriorating.