Organic Electronics Now have a “Green Solution”

Solvents are used during the manufacture of organic electronic components to facilitate the chemical coupling reactions involved, as well as in vital purification steps, and to control the formation of optimal structures.

Organic technologies may release less carbon dioxide than alternatives, but they also require huge amounts of halogenated solvents, which are hazardous to the environment and humans, according to the report.

According to the report, a new class of renewable solvents could make the production of organic electronics much more eco-friendly and less hazardous.

"Developing green and sustainable alternative solvents would be a huge step towards implementing such technologies on commercial scales," says Derya Baran of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

As mentioned in the report, Baran’s group has developed suitable solvents derived from terpenes, a category of organic chemicals widely available from plants, algae, and other organisms.

It added, they used their family of terpene solvents for organic printing, to make photovoltaic devices suitable for solar cells, light-emitting diodes and field-effect transistors.

Ludvig Edman of Ume University in Sweden, an organic electronics expert, says, "This is an important advance to address the use of toxic and non-sustainable halogenated solvents in printed electronics." Ludvig was not involved in the research.

He added, "The authors have put a tremendous amount of work into this study, and to demonstrate a similar device performance from bio-based sustainable solvents as halogenated solvents is significant."

The report concludes with Baran’s quote, which says that making photoactive components of devices from low- or negative-carbon resources with less complex chemical methods is a target for future research.

She also suggests that making biodegradable active components would help build true "circular economy" sustainability into the field.

By Sumita Pawar