Communications of the ACM
Printing Innovations Provide 10-Fold Improvement in Organic Electronics
An array of 1-mm-wide by 2-cm-long single-crystal organic semiconductors; the neatly-aligned blue strips are what provide greater electric charge mobility. The Stanford logo shown next to the strips is the size of a dime.
Credit: Y. Diao et al.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have developed a printing process called fluid-enhanced crystal engineering (FLUENCE), which for some materials results in thin films capable of conducting electricity 10 times more efficiently than those created using conventional methods.
"Even better, most of the concepts behind FLUENCE can scale up to meet industry requirements," says SLAC/Stanford researcher Ying Diao.
The researchers focused on controlling the flow of the liquid in which the organic material is dissolved. If the ink does not distribute evenly, the semiconducting crystals will have defects. The researchers designed a printing blade with tiny pillars embedded in it that mix the ink so it forms a uniform film. Their method produced neatly arranged crystals at least 10 times longer than crystals created with other solution-based techniques, and of much greater structural integrity. The next step is to find the underlying relationship between the material and the process that led to such a result.
"That could lead to a revolutionary advance in organic electronics," says Stanford professor Zhenan Bao. "We've been making excellent progress, but I think we're only just scratching the surface."
From Stanford University
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