Biocompatible and biodegradable organic electronic materials

The development of environmentally safe, low cost, and disposable electronics represents a realistic route to address the serious ecological challenge posed by the inescapable presence of electronic waste. This chapter provides an overview of the emerging research area of green electronics by focusing on various organic materials serving as “green” alternatives for the different building blocks of conventional electronic devices. In the initial introductive part, the chapter discusses the framework of green electronics and the main characteristics of the technology. The chapter then provides a comprehensive overview of naturally derived and synthetic small molecules/polymers with insulating, semiconducting, and conducting properties. Specifically, compounds of interest are identified and described in terms of chemical, optical, electrical, and manufacturing properties. A final discussion on recent research achievements and applications of the reported compounds is given for three key-constituting devices of complex systems, including organic solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, and organic field-effect transistors.