Electricity-conducting plastics. Image by Loo Research Group, Princeton University.
Last week I touched upon imminent global mineral shortages. One substance in particularly high demand is indium tin oxide (ITO), a material commonly used to manufacture transparent metal conductors (thus allowing for light transfer) in solar panels as well as flat-screen televisions, cell phones, and other display-intensive electronic devices.
A team of researchers at Princeton University has recently developed a low-cost alternative to increasingly expensive ITO using electricity-conducting plastics. According to associate professor Yueh-Lin Loo, “Conductive polymers have been around for a long time, but processing them to make something useful degraded their ability to conduct electricity.” The secret, Loo discovered, is to avoid rigid molds, and to maintain a relaxed state in the polymer structure.
The ITO-replacement might not only facilitate the development of less expensive solar cells, but also the deployment of flexible biomedical displays in developing countries.