| 1. |
- Ajjan Godoy, Fátima Nadia
(författare)
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Biohybrid Polymer Electrodes for Renewable Energy Storage
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Daily and seasonally fluctuating energy supply and demand requires adequate energy storage solutions. In recent years electrochemical supercapacitors have attracted considerable attention due to their ability to both store and deliver electrical energy efficiently. Our efforts are focused on developing and optimizing sustainable organic electrode materials for supercapacitors based on renewable bioorganic materials, offering a cheap, environmentally friendly and scalable alternative to store energy. In particular, we are using the second most abundant biopolymer in nature, lignin (Lig), which is an insulating material. However, when used in combination with electroactive and conducting polymers such as polypyrrole (PPy) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), the biohybrid electrodes PPy/Lig and PEDOT/Lig display significantly enhanced energy storage performance as compared to the pristine conducting polymers without the lignin. Redox cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements indicate that the enhanced performance is due to the additional pseudocapacitance generated by the quinone moieties in lignin. Moreover, a conjugated redoxpolymer poly(aminoanthraquinone) PAAQ, with intrinsic quinone functions and excellentstability, has been combined with lignin and PEDOT resulting in a trihybrid bioelectrode. PEDOT compensates the low conductivity of PAAQ and provides electrical pathways to the quinone groups. The electrochemically generated quinones undergo a two electron, two protonredox process within the biohybrid electrodes as revealed by FTIR spectroelectrochemistry.These remarkable features reveal the exciting potential of a full organic energy storage device with long cycle life. Therefore, supercapacitor devices were designed in symmetric or asymmetric two electrode configuration. The best electrochemical performance was achieved by the asymmetric supercapacitor based on PEDOT+Lignin/PAAQ as the positive electrode and PEDOT/PAAQ as the negative electrode. This device exhibits superior electrochemical performance and outstanding stability after 10000 charge/discharge cycles due to the synergistic effect of the two electrodes. Finally, we have characterized the response of this supercapacitor device when charged with the intermittent power supply from an organic photovoltaic module. We have designed charging/discharging conditions such that reserve power was available in the storage device at all times. This work has resulted in an inexpensive fully organic system witht he dual function of energy conversion and storage.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Lars Mattias, 1976-
(författare)
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Electronic Transport in Polymeric Solar Cells and Transistors
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main topic of this dissertation is electronic charge transport in polymeric and molecular organic materials and material blends intended for solar cell applications. Charge transport in polymers is a strange beast and carrier mobility is rarely a well-defined number. Measurements on different sample geometries and under different conditions tend to give different results and when everything is to be related to solar cell performance it is imperative that there is a way to correlate the results from different measurements. Polymer solar cells utilize composite materials for their function. This puts an additional twist on charge transport studies, as there will also be interaction between the different phases to take into account.Several measurement techniques have been used and their interrelationships as well as information on their relevance for solar cells have been investigated. Field effect transistors (FET) with an organic active layer have proved to be one of the more versatile measurement geometries and are also an interesting topic in itself. FETs are discussed both as a route for material characterization and as components. A main result correlates bias stress in organic field effect transistors with the electronic structure of the material.Power conversion efficiency in solar cells is discussed with respect to electrical properties. The interaction of different blend materials and the impact of stoichiometry on transport properties in the active layer have been investigated. Results indicate that charge transport properties frequently are a key determining factor for which material combinations and ratios that works best.Some work on the conductive properties of nano-fibers coated with semiconducting polymers has also been done and is briefly discussed. The conductive properties of nano-fibers have been studied through potential imaging.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Mattias, 1973-
(författare)
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Colour Calibration of Trichromatic Capturing Devices
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In a time where there is an increasing demand for easily accessible and up-to-date information, digital printing has become a link between traditional printed media and electronic media. Over the last years, applications such as variable data printing, personalised printing and print on demand have changed the way in which printed matter is produced and handled. The print quality of products produced by digital printing systems has improved considerably in recent years. The main reason for this improvement is better printer hardware but the printing paper is still a very influential factor. The two major technologies, inkjet and electrophotography and their respective applications put very different demands on the paper, mechanically, chemically and optically. Nevertheless, the differences in print quality across digital printing systems are decreasing, except for one area − colour reproduction. The growth of the market of consumer colour imaging products, such as digital printers and desktop printers, has been enormous during the last years. As a consequence of this, consumer expectations on colour reproduction have risen significantly, as even very small failures in colour reproduction can drastically reduce the visual impression of an otherwise impeccably reproduced image. Therefore, as consumer expectations continue to rise, a high and repeatable quality of colour image reproduction is a growing challenge for producers of digital printing devices as well as for paper producers. However, this is impossible to achieve without precise methods and routines to measure colour reproduction quality. The use of spectrophotometers for colour measurements of printed substrates is widely spread among paper producers as well as within the printing industry. Spectrophotometers are precise instruments for point-wise measurements. However, the measurement procedure is very time-consuming and therefore, faster methods for colour measurements are longed-for. If the spectrophotometers used today could be replaced with trichromatic capturing devices such as flatbed scanners or digital cameras, colour characterisation would be not only faster, but also less expensive. In addition, if the trichromatic devices are colorimetrically calibrated, spatial image information can be combined with colour information, making it possible to measure quality attributes related to colour image rendering that are impossible to capture with point-wise measurements. Today, flatbed scanners and digital cameras provide robust and high-quality image capturing capabilities at a relatively low cost. Furthermore, scanner and camera-based systems for automated objective measurements of print quality parameters have already become widely used tools for print quality measurements of print-related properties such as print mottle, sharpness and bleeding. However, the colour calibration of trichromatic capturing devices is not free from obstacles. In colour calibrations, where the aim is to measure colour of printed matter, knowledge about the properties of the capturing device, the printing substrate, the printing process and the printer function are all of great importance. In the work presented here, methods for colour characterisation of printing processes are proposed as well as methods for colour characterisation and calibration of trichromatic capturing devices. Furthermore, the media dependency problem inherent to colour calibrations of trichromatic capturing devices is discussed. Examples are given on how properties of the printed substrate, such as the content of fluorescent whitening agents, influence colour calibrations as well as colour measurements in general.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Viktor
(författare)
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Electron tomography and optical modelling for organic solar cells
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Organic solar cells using carbon based materials have the potential to deliver cheap solar electricity. The aim is to be able to produce solar cells with common printing techniques on flexible substrates, and as organic materials can be made soluble in various solvents, they are well adapted to such techniques. There is a large variation of organic materials produced for solar cells, both small molecules and polymers. Alterations of the molecular structure induce changes of the electrical and optical properties, such as band gap, mobility and light absorption. During the development of organic solar cells, the step of mixing of an electron donor and an electron acceptor caused a leap in power conversion efficiency improvement, due to an enhanced exciton dissociation rate. Top performing organic solar cells now exhibit a power conversion efficiency of over 10%. Currently, a mix of a conjugated polymer, or smaller molecule, and a fullerene derivative are commonly used as electron donor and acceptor. Here, the blend morphology plays an important role. Excitons formed in either of the donor or acceptor phase need to diffuse to the vicinity of the donor-acceptor interface to efficiently dissociate. Exciton diffusion lengths in organic materials are usually in the order of 5-10 nm, so the phases should not be much larger than this, for good exciton quenching. These charges must also be extracted, which implies that a network connected to the electrodes is needed. Consequently, a balance of these demands is important for the production of efficient organic solar cells.Morphology has been found to have a significant impact on the solar cell behaviour and has thus been widely studied. The aim of this work has been to visualize the morphology of active layers of organic solar cells in three dimensions by the use of electron tomography. The technique has been applied to materials consisting of conjugated polymers blended with fullerene derivatives. Though the contrast in these blends is poor, three-dimensional reconstructions have been produced, showing the phase formation in three dimensions at the scale of a few nanometres. Several material systems have been investigated and preparation techniques compared.Even if excitons are readily dissociated and paths for charge extraction exist, the low charge mobilities of many materials put a limit on film thickness. Although more light could be absorbed by increased film thickness, performance is hampered due to increased charge recombination. A large amount of light is thus reflected and not used for energy conversion. Much work has been put into increasing the light absorption without hampering the solar cell performance. Aside from improved material properties, various light trapping techniques have been studied. The aim is here to increase the optical path length in the active layer, and in this way improve the absorption without enhanced extinction coefficient.At much larger dimensions, light trapping in solar cells with folded configuration has been studied by the use of optical modelling. An advantage of these V-cells is that two materials with complementing optical properties may be used together to form a tandem solar cell, which may be connected in either serial or parallel configuration, with maintained light trapping feature. In this work optical absorption in V-cells has been modelled and compared to that of planar ones.
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| 5. |
- Asplund, Maria, 1978-
(författare)
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Conjugated Polymers for Neural Interfaces : Prospects, possibilities and future challenges
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Within the field of neuroprosthetics the possibility to use implanted electrodes for communication with the nervous system is explored. Much effort is put into the material aspects of the electrode implant to increase charge injection capacity, suppress foreign body response and build micro sized electrode arrays allowing close contact with neurons. Conducting polymers, in particular poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT), have been suggested as materials highly interesting for such neural communication electrodes. The possibility to tailor the material both mechanically and biochemically to suit specific applications, is a substantial benefit with polymers when compared to metals. PEDOT also have hybrid charge transfer properties, including both electronic and ionic conduction, which allow for highly efficient charge injection. Part of this thesis describes a method of tailoring PEDOT through exchanging the counter ion used in electropolymerisation process. Commonly used surfactants can thereby be excluded and instead, different biomolecules can be incorporated into the polymer. The electrochemical characteristics of the polymer film depend on the ion. PEDOT electropolymerised with heparin was here determined to have the most advantageous properties. In vitro methods were applied to confirm non-cytotoxicity of the formed PEDOT:biomolecular composites. In addition, biocompatibility was affirmed for PEDOT:heparin by evaluation of inflammatory response and neuron density when implanted in rodent cortex. One advantage with PEDOT often stated, is its high stability compared to other conducting polymers. A battery of tests simulating the biological environment was therefore applied to investigate this stability, and especially the influence of the incorporated heparin. These tests showed that there was a decline in the electroactivity of PEDOT over time. This also applied in phosphate buffered saline at body temperature and in the absence of other stressors. The time course of degradation also differed depending on whether the counter ion was the surfactant polystyrene sulphonate or heparin, with a slightly better stability for the former. One possibility with PEDOT, often overlooked for biological applications, is the use of its semi conducting properties in order to include logic functions in the implant. This thesis presents the concept of using PEDOT electrochemical transistors to construct textile electrode arrays with in-built multiplexing. Using the electrolyte mediated interaction between adjacent PEDOT coated fibres to switch the polymer coat between conducting and non conducting states, then transistor function can be included in the conducting textile. Analogue circuit simulations based on experimentally found transistor characteristics proved the feasibility of these textile arrays. Developments of better polymer coatings, electrolytes and encapsulation techniques for this technology, were also identified to be essential steps in order to make these devices truly useful. In summary, this work shows the potential of PEDOT to improve neural interfaces in several ways. Some weaknesses of the polymer and the polymer electronics are presented and this, together with the epidemiological data, should point in the direction for future studies within this field.
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| 6. |
- Bergqvist, Jonas, 1983-
(författare)
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Optoelectrical Imaging Methods for Organic Photovoltaic Materials and Moduls
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- To achieve a high living standard for all people on Earth access to low cost energy is essential. The massive burning of fossil fuels must be drastically reduced if we are to avoid large changes of our climate. Solar cells are both technologically mature and have the potential to meet the huge demand for renewable energy in many countries. The prices for silicon solar cells have decreased rapidly during the course of this thesis and are now in grid parity in many countries.However, the potential for even lower energy costs has driven the research on polymer solar cells, a class of thin film solar cells. Polymer solar cells can be produced by roll to roll printing which potentially enables truly low cost solar cells. However, much research and development remain to reach that target.Polymer solar cells consist of a semiconducting composite material sandwiched between two electrodes, of which one is transparent, to let the light energy in to the semiconductor where it is converted to electric energy. The semiconductor comprise an intimate blend of polymer and fullerenes, where the nanostructure of this blend is crucial for the photo current extraction.To reach higher solar cell performance the dominating strategy is development and fine tuning of new polymers. To estimate their potential as solar cell materials their optical response have been determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Furthermore, optical simulations have been performed where the direction dependency of the optical response of the transparent electrode material PEDOT:PSS have been accounted for. The simulations show reduced electrode losses for light incident at large oblique angles.Moreover, we have shown that a gentle annealing of the active layer induces a local conformational changes of an amorphous polymer that is beneficial for solar cell performance. The active layer is deposited from solution where the drying kinetics determine the final nanostructure. We have shown that using in-situ photoluminescence phase separation can be detected during the drying process while a reflectance method have been developed to image lateral variations of solvent evaporation rate.Imaging methods are important tools to detect performance variations over the solar cell area. For this purpose an intermodulation based photo current imaging method have been developed to qualitatively differentiate the major photo current loss mechanisms. In addition, a 1D LED-array photo current imaging method have been developed and verified for high speed in-line characterization of printed organic solar modules.
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| 7. |
- Bian, Qingzhen, 1988-
(författare)
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Excitonic and charge carrier transport in organic materials and device applications
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the potential for future commercial use, organic electronics have been intensively studied for the last few decades. To exploit the next generation of high-performance devices, detailed study of the underlying physics is essential. Excitonic and charge carrier transport plays a critical role in device performance and related studies have attracted a lot of attention in recent decades. This thesis particularly focused on excitonic and charge carrier transport in organic materials and related device applications.In natural light harvesting systems, such as the reaction centers of purple bacteria, quantum coherence has been proposed to be present as a contributor to the related charge and energy transport processes, and almost 100% charge conversion is present in these efficient biological systems. This high energy conversion efficiency inspires the idea that if a similar strategy was used in artificial energy conversion devices such as organic photovoltaics, etc., this could significantly enhance the device’s performance. In the first study, the charge separation process in some donor/acceptor blends was investigated. The contribution of quantum coherence to device performance was studied in detail using several steady state and ultrafast transient techniques. In one efficient donor/acceptor blend, a pronounced coherence of charge separation was identified, which contributed to the enhancement of the photocurrent generation, which finally resulted in efficient device performance.For the light emitting diodes, triplet excitons harvesting plays a critical role in device performance. In the thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials, due to an efficient reverse intersystem process from triplet excitons to singlet excitons, the losses due to triplet excitons were suppressed. As a result, a desired high quantum yield has been achieved. To enhance device efficiency, the detailed study of the upconversion physics between triplet and singlet is needed. Previous studies have proposed some physical models to explain this efficient upconversion process, while the nature of this physical process is still under debate and unclear. In my second work, we studied the exciton kinetics in two different TADF materials. These TADF materials were inserted in a protein fibril host, and the resulting protein scaffold was able to modify the geometric configuration of the related TADF molecule. As a result, an enhancement of the photoluminescence quantum yield was achieved.To achieve efficient device performance in organic electronics, the physical processes at the metal/material interface and charge carrier injection/extraction, also play a critical role. Efficient charge injection can be achieved by Ohmic contact, and charge injection/extraction of metal/organic materials has been intensively studied in the last few decades. In my third study, an efficient hole transport material based on the biopolymer DNA was introduced. A hole doping process was found in the hybrid materials and contributes to the Ohmic contacts. The hybrid material can be used in different organic electronics devices, such as field effect transistors, light emitting diodes and solar cells, and thus demonstrates a general application capability.In organic photovoltaics, the loss from the open circuit photovoltages has been an Achilles’ heel for further enhancement of device performance. The voltage loss includes the radiative and non-radiative value, and intensive studies have focused on how to suppress losses from the non-radiative channel. In my fourth study, the non-radiative voltage loss was studied in a series of terpolymer blends and ternary blends. Compared to the ternary blends, a decreased nonradiative loss was found in the terpolymer blends.
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| 8. |
- Björk, Per, 1978-
(författare)
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Biological Sensing and DNA Templated Electronics Using Conjugated Polymers
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Conjugated polymers have been found useful in a wide range of applications such as solar cells, sensor elements and printed electronics, due to their optical and electronic properties. Functionalization with charged side chains has enabled water solubility, resulting in an enhanced interaction with biomolecules. This thesis focus on the emerging research fields, where these conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) are combined with biomolecules for biological sensing and DNA nanowire assembling.CPEs have shown large potential in biomolecular detection where the optical read out is due to the geometrical alternation in the backbone and aggregation state. This thesis focused on transferring the biomolecular detection to a surface of CPEs. The characterization of the CPE layer show that a hydrogel can be formed, and how the layer can undergo geometrical changes upon external stimulus such as pH change. A selective sensor surface can be created by imprinting ssDNA or an antibody in the CPE layer. The discrimination for complementary DNA hybridization and specific antibody interaction can be monitored by surface plasmon resonance or quartz crystal microbalance. We have also taken the step out from the controlled test tube experiments to the complex environment of the cell showing the potential for staining of compartments and structures in live and fixed cell. Depending on the conditions and CPE used, cell nuclei, acidic vesicles and cytoskeleton structure can be visualized. Furthermore, the live staining shows no sign of toxic effect on cultured fibroblasts.CPEs can also be a valuable element when assembling electronics in the true nano regime. I have used DNA as building template due to its attractive size features, with a width of around 2 nm and a length scale in the µm regime, and the inbuilt base-paring recognition elements. This thesis shows how DNA can be decorated with CPEs and stretched on surfaces into a model for aligned semiconducting nanowire geometries. Not only making the template structures is of importance, but also how to place them on the correct surface position, i.e. on electrodes. Strategies for positioning DNA nanowires using transfer printing and surface energy patterning methods have therefore been developed in the thesis. The stretched DNA decorated with CPE also offers a way to further study the molecular binding interaction between the two molecules. Single molecular spectroscopy in combination with polarization has given information of the variation of the CPE binding along a DNA chain.
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| 9. |
- Bäcklund, Fredrik
(författare)
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Preparation and Application of Functionalized Protein Fibrils
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Many proteins have an innate ability to self-assemble into fibrous structures known as amyloid fibrils. From a material science perspective, fibrils have several interesting characteristics, including a high stability, a distinct shape and tunable surface properties. Such structures can be given additional properties through functionalization by other compounds such as fluorophores. Combination of fibrils with a function yielding compound can be achieved in several ways. Covalent bond attachment is specific, but cumbersome. External surface adhesion is nonspecific, but simple. However, in addition, internal non-covalent functionalization is possible. In this thesis, particular emphasis is put on internal functionalization of fibrils; by co-grinding fibril forming proteins with a hydrophobic molecule, a protein-hydrophobic compound molecule composite can be created that retains the proteins innate ability to form fibrils. Subsequently formed fibrils will thus have the structural properties of the protein fibril as well as the properties of the incorporated compound. The functionalization procedures used throughout this thesis are applicable for a wide range of chromophores commonly used for organic electronics and photonics. The methods developed and the prepared materials are useful for applications within optoelectronics as well as biomedicine.Regardless of the methodology of functionalization, using functionalized fibrils in a controlled fashion for material design requires an intimate understanding of the formation process and knowledge of the tools available to control not only the formation but also any subsequent macroscale assembly of fibrils. The development and application of such tools are described in several of the papers included in this thesis. With the required knowledge in hand, the possible influence of fibrils on the functionalizing agents, and vice versa, can be probed. The characteristic traits of the functionalized fibril can be customized and the resulting material can be organized and steered towards a specific shape and form. This thesis describes how control over the process of formation, functionalization and organization of functionalized fibrils can be utilized to influence the hierarchical assembly of fibrils – ranging from spherical structures to spirals; the function – fluorescent or conducting; and macroscopic properties – optical birefringence and specific arrangement of functionalized fibrils in the solid state. In conclusion, the use of amyloid fibrils in material science has great potential. Herein is presented a possible route towards a fully bottom up approach ranging from the nanoscale to the macroscale.
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| 10. |
- Elfwing, Anders, 1975-
(författare)
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On decoration of biomolecular scaffolds with a conjugated polyelectrolyte
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Biotemplating is the art of using a biological structure as a scaffold which is decorated with a functional material. In this fashion the structures will gain new functionalities and biotemplating offers a simple route of mass-producing mesoscopic material with new interesting properties. Biological structures are abundant and come in a great variety of elaborate and due to their natural origin they could be more suitable for interaction with biological systems than wholly synthetic materials. Conducting polymers are a novel class of material which was developed just 40 years ago and are well suited for interaction with biological material due to their organic composition. Furthermore the electronic properties of the conducting polymers can be tuned giving rise to dynamic control of the behavior of the material. Self-assembly processes are interesting since they do not require complicated or energy demanding processing conditions. This is particularly important as most biological materials are unstable at elevated temperatures or harsh environments. The main aim of this thesis is to show the possibility of using self-assembly to decorate a conducting polymer onto various biotemplates. Due to the intrinsic variety in charge, size and structure between the available natural scaffolds it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a universal method.In this thesis we show how biotemplating can be used to create new hybrid materials by self-assembling a conducting polymer with biological structures based on DNA, protein, lipids and cellulose, and in this fashion create material with novel optical and electronic properties.
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