World's First Wooden Transistor Developed by Scientists; How Does This Electrical Piece Work?

While wood is known to be good for several things, electrical and electronic applications are not exactly ideal for wood. Despite this, a group of researchers proceeded to make the world's first wooden transistor.

World's First Wooden Transistor

According to Science Alert, this was conducted by scientists from the Linköping University and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. Their novel findings were published in the PNAS journal. Such findings may open new doors for wood-based electronic advancements.

More specifically, the researchers included a special ingredient to bypass wood's limitations and lousiness when it comes to current conductivity. They ended up with a wooden transistor that is quite big. Isak Engquist, an electrical engineer from Linköping University, explains that though the wooden transistor is bulky and slow, it still works and carries remarkable potential in terms of development.

SciTechDaily reports that in earlier trials, wooden transistors were only capable of regulating ion transport. When such ions end up running out, the transistor also stops functioning. However, this novel wooden transistor may still continuously function and regulate the flow of electricity without leading to its own deterioration.

The scientists used balsa wood for this transistor. They took out the lignin, leaving the lengthy cellulose fibers that had channels where the lignin was originally placed. Such channels were then filled with a polymer known as PEDOT:PSS. This resulted in a wooden material that was electrically conductive.

Science Alert adds that the wooden transistor is a vital component of any other electronic piece. It may amplify signals, keep data, or collaborate to execute logic functions.

One advantage that comes with the transistor's large size is that it could possibly handle higher currents compared to typical transistors. This could come in handy in future applications.

This wooden transistor may possibly be used in various applications. These include electronic plant regulation, which is also a strong research focus at Linköping University.

Engquist wants to emphasize, however, that they did not craft the wooden transistor with a specific application in mind. He notes that they just did it because they could. Engquist explains that this basic research reveals the possibilities of using wooden transistors and that they hope it could inspire further studies regarding actual, specialized applications.

Transistors: a Game Changing Invention

According to SciTechDaily, transistors, which are revolutionary inventions from almost a century ago, are usually regarded as one of humanity's most significant innovations. At present, they have crucial roles in electronic devices and tend to be produced at the nanoscale.

These devices serve as controllers that operate as power switches and regulate current flow. They can be found in almost all modern electronic devices, including microprocessors, memory chips, power supplies, and microchips, as reported by Arrow. That being said, it is hard to undermine how important transistors are today.

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