Green gold: prospects of lignin in organic electronics and bioelectronics

Abstract

Lignin, a complex aromatic polymer from plant cell walls, has emerged as a promising material for organic electronics and bioelectronics due to its abundance, low cost, and renewability. Its unique chemical structure allows for the development of flexible, lightweight devices in organic electronics, from printed circuit boards, batteries and supercapacitors to field-effect transistors and solar cells, while its biocompatibility and low toxicity make it ideal for bioelectronic applications like in biosensors, artificial neural networks and cognitive computing. This perspective highlights lignin's potential to address sustainability challenges in the electronics industry and explores its current advancements and future prospects in these fields.