The Avenue to “Green” in Organic Bioelectronics

Through its appealing avenues of processing the component devices at room temperature and from low-cost precursor materials, organic electronics has a tremendous potential for the development of products able to achieve the goals of production sustainability as well as environmental and human friendliness for electronics.<br/><br/>In an effort to stave off the e-waste growth, the presenter and his research group went further down the path opened by organic electronics research and investigated a large number of biomaterials as substrates, dielectrics, semiconductors and smoothening layers for the fabrication of organic field effect transistors, integrated circuits and organic solar cells. The presentation will focus on the highlights of our recent research, especially with respect to materials investigated, devices fabricated and the immense potential for follow up research:<br/>-Flexible natural and biodegradable substrates<br/>-Natural dielectrics<br/>-Bioorigin, H-bonded semiconductors in the families of indigos, anthraquinones and acridones<br/>-Biodegradation protocols for organic semiconductors<br/><br/>These highlights will be placed in the context of the mountain that one has to climb in order to reach the coveted “green” connotation for electronics, sensors and integrated circuits:<br/>-Biocompatibility issue<br/>-Biodegradability issue<br/>-Compostability issue<br/>-Cost of production / energy expanded in production issue<br/>-Materials choice issue (carbon foot print)<br/>-Toxicity and the environmental impact of the synthetic avenue for component materials<br/><br/>The potential of follow-up research in the green electronics field is immense, with large area electronics fabrication, biomedical implants, bio-sensing and smart labeling, representing only the tip of the iceberg of many more immediate possibilities of high interest for our group. Natural and nature-inspired materials have the unrivalled capability to create “safe-first” electronic markets for human and environment, with minimal or even neutral carbon footprint.