Natural Molecular Materials for Optoelectronics

This contribution is in the area of sustainable organic electronics, where abundant, bio-sourced organic molecular materials, potentially printable and biodegradable, are investigated for their functional properties, for applications in low-environmental impact optoelectronics.<br/><br/>While advancing on our sustainable organic electronics path, keeping in mind the ambitious objective to combine technical, environmental, economic and societal performance, we have gained insight on the effect of the chemical composition of the biosynthesized materials on their functional properties, e.g. electrochemical, electrical, optical and magnetic. The chemical composition dramatically affects the functional properties of the materials and permits to shed light on their bio-role in living systems, opening the opportunity for novel, bio-inspired technologies and devices.<br/><br/>In this contribution, we will discuss the latest developments concerning (i) the complex chemical composition of bio-sourced materials for sustainable organic electronics, as obtained by a number of different analytical chemistry techniques, and (ii) the design of experimental configurations (e.g. substrates, electrode materials, geometries), capable to reveal novel physico-chemical processes taking place in the materials, in controlled experimental conditions.<br/><br/>Our efforts wish to contribute to make a step ahead to bridge the fields of biology, chemistry & physics of materials, sustainability, and device & electrical engineering.