Researchers from Sweden have developed the world’s first wooden transistor using balsa wood as a housing for a mixed electron-ion conducting polymer.
The team stripped the wood of its lignin to make it more efficient as a channel for the polymer, which fills the remaining material. The stacked millimeter-thick units, which acted as electrodes and channels, created a crude transistor that could be turned on and off by pumping in electrons.
While the wood transistor is slow and bulky, it has huge development potential. As a basic research innovation, the wooden transistor has no specific application yet, but it could inspire further research that could lead to biodegradable electronics made from easily harvested resources, such as remote sensors that need to break down easily or inconspicuous devices powered by movements in the environment.