Electronics Made From Trees: Nanocellulose Paper Semiconductor

Find out more below…

‍

1. Alternative Electronics

With the exponential rise of electronics and processing power needed for today’s computing, scientists are always on the lookout for something smaller, faster, and more efficient. The hunt has led some researchers from Osaka University, The University of Tokyo, Kyushu University and Okayama University to develop wood-derived semiconductors.

‍

2. Wood Derived Semiconductors

These semiconductors can be tuned for use in a range of sustainable electronic devices. Applications like adsorbing, separating and sensing require a lot of surface area. The 3D nanostructures and pore abundance in these nanocellulose inspired electronics help in exactly that.

‍

3. Semiconducting Paper

Cellulose is the fiber found in plant cells and these cellulose nanofibers can be made into sheets of nanocellulose paper with the dimensions of a standard A4 size sheet of paper. But this structure does not conduct electricity right away but if heated carefully without damaging the nanostructures then we get the semiconductor properties.

‍

4. Making electronics with semiconductive paper

The researchers used Origami and Kirigami, which are traditional Japanese paper holding/cutting methods respectively. Using these techniques the team made a bird, a box, and other shapes like an apple and a snowflake using laser cutting, demonstrating the potential of these paper electronics when it comes to creative shapes and sizes for application. 

‍

5. Nanopaper Semiconductors

The scientists were able to incorporate these nanopaper semiconductors into wearable devices like a face mask with a nanopaper sensor that can detect the moisture in our exhaled breath. In another example, they used the nanopaper semiconductor as an electrode in a glucose biofuel cell and the energy generated by the fuel cell was able to light a small bulb.

‍