The Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS, President Choi Cheol-jin/hereafter referred to as KIMS) has developed a fiber-type electronic device that can be mass-produced inexpensively using a very simple process, and it is expected that this will have a dramatic economic impact when commercialized in the future.

The Korea Materials Research Institute announced on the 14th that the research team of Dr. Jae-ho Kim and Dr. Myeong-gwan Song from the Energy and Electronic Materials Laboratory of the Nano-Surface Materials Research Division and the research team of Professor Cheol-jin Ahn from Changwon National University, through joint research, developed a 4-Amino-TEMPO derivative with photocatalytic properties and successfully used it to produce high-performance and stable fiber-type solar cells and fiber-type organic light-emitting diodes.

The developed 4-Amino-TEMPO derivative has the characteristic of being able to simultaneously improve the performance of fiber-type solar cells and fiber-type organic light-emitting diodes.

Existing materials have the disadvantages of being difficult to synthesize and mass-produce, and poor reproducibility of devices using the materials. The 4-Amino-TEMPO derivative developed by our research team not only has a simple synthesis process and can be synthesized in large quantities, but can also be used to produce fiber-type solar cells and fiber-type organic light-emitting diodes, improving the performance of the two electronic devices by more than 20%.

The research team designed and synthesized a material with photocatalytic properties to increase the efficiency of fiber-type solar cells. The synthesized material is highly stable in air and moisture, and can be used to produce high-performance fiber-type solar cells and fiber-type organic light-emitting diodes. It has also been confirmed to have excellent washing characteristics and mechanical shock resistance.

4-Amino-TEMPO derivatives can be used in various electronic devices such as solid electrolytes, catalysts, solar cells, and organic light-emitting diodes in lithium batteries. The technology is differentiated in that it can be mass-produced with a very simple process and, above all, is inexpensive.

In addition, since it can provide multifunctionality rather than just one function, it can be widely used in various electronic device fields. 4-Amino-TEMPO derivatives can be mass-produced at a low price of less than 1 million won per 100 g.

If this technology is utilized to advance domestic production and mass production, a groundbreaking economic effect can be expected in electronic component companies.

“Using multifunctional materials can improve performance and increase stability in the field of electronic devices,” said Song Myeong-gwan, a senior researcher at the Materials Research Institute who is in charge of the research. “In the future, it is expected to be applied to various fields such as energy production and storage materials as well as sensor materials.”

This research was conducted with the support of the Ministry of Science and ICT through the Korea Institute of Materials Science’s basic project (Development of Energy Production and Storage Platform for Fiber Time) and the National Research Foundation’s mid-career researcher support project. In addition, the research results were published in Materialstoday ENERGY on April 22. Currently, the research team is continuously conducting follow-up research to utilize 4-Amino-TEMPO derivatives in organic solar cells, perovskite solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, etc., with the goal of mass production within a few years.