Organic Energy Materials

We exploit and investigate the physics and chemistry of new organic and composite materials to improve electronic and electrochemical devices.

Principal investigator: Xavier Crispin

We investigate the possibility to use organic semiconducting molecules, polymers or composites in energy devices. One focus is to functionalize forest-based materials, such as cellulose and lignin and implement them into energy devices. Through simple chemical synthesis and polymerization, we fabricate new materials and composites. One key advantage of organics is that they are composed of atomic elements of high natural abundancy; which is highly relevant for mass implementation of energy devices. Energy devices can be separated into conversion and storage devices.

The Organic Energy materials group study the conversion of heat into electricity through several effects: Seebeck effect of electronic charge carriers, Soret effect of ions and thermogalvanic effect of redox molecules. We also investigate the reverse effect for cooling applications.

We finally study the conversion of electricity into chemical energy in energy storage applications, such as organic batteries or H2-storage materials.
Finally we study the conversion of mechanical energy into electricity by piezoelectric organic polymers.

The Organic Energy Material group is part of the Wood Wallenberg Science Center and have collaboration with Ligna Energy AB and Redoxme.

NewsShow/Hide content

Mikhail Vagin and Penghui Ding working in the laboratory.

LiU researchers first to develop an organic battery

Researchers at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics have for the first time demonstrated an organic battery. It is of a type known as a “redox flow battery” that can be used to store energy from solar cells, and as a power bank for cars.

Xavier Crispin, Canyan Che and Mikhail Vagin

Lignin – a supergreen fuel for fuel cells

Researchers from the Laboratory of Organic Electronics at LiU have developed a fuel cell that uses lignin, a cheap by-product from paper manufacture and one of the most common biopolymers.

The world's first heat-driven transistor

Dan Zhao and Simone Fabiano at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics have created a thermoelectric organic transistor. A temperature rise of a single degree is sufficient to cause a detectable current modulation in the transistor.