Paper pulp, the raw material for CNF, is expected to be an ace material for carbon-neutral materials, but its application is currently limited to mechanical and chemical fields.
A research group led by Research Fellow Mikio Fukuhara and Prof. Toshiyuki Hashida (Research Center for Advanced Materials and Strength Science, Graduate School of Engineering) have jointly discovered that semiconductor properties develop in nano-sized sheet materials with controlled CNF structure.
The I (current)-V (voltage) characteristics of the nanosized sheet material with controlled CNF microstructure showed n-type semiconductor characteristics with a remarkable phenomenon in the negative voltage region.
It also showed a characteristic that changes from a parallel circuit (low conduction band) when DC current is applied to a parallel circuit (high conduction band) when AC current is applied.
These characteristics have opened up the possibility of semiconductor fabrication using low-cost, harmless bio-materials, unlike compound semiconductors that use expensive high-purity silicon (Si) materials or rare metals.
In addition, by utilizing the abundant forest resources in Japan, paper electronics based on plant-derived semiconductors are expected to be put to practical use.
The results were published online in Scientific Reports on December 20, 2022.
Related materials
Tohoku University press release page (Japanese) (click here)