The physicists has used the "inverse spin Hall effect" works in many organic semiconductors and carbon-60 buckyballs. However, the University of Utah physicists changed magnetic "spin current" into electric current. The efficiency of this new power conversion method isn't yet known, but it might find use in future electronic devices including batteries, solar cells and computers. The study also showed that the conversion of spin current to electric current works in organic semiconductors, also known as "spin-orbit coupling." This process is found in inorganic conductors and semiconductors. Even though this phenomenon in inorganic and organic materials works in various ways. This coupling is much weaker in organic than in inorganic semiconductors, but the big thing that came out of this experiment was the discovery of an experimental method sensitive enough to reliably measure the weak effects in organic semiconductors.
The upper part of this illustration shows the device, built on a small glass slide, that was used in experiments showing that so-called spin current could be converted to electric current using several different organic polymer semiconductors and a phenomenon known as the inverse spin Hall effect. The bottom illustration shows the key, sandwich-like part of the device. An external magnetic field and pulses of microwaves create spin waves in the iron magnet. When those waves hit the polymer or organic semiconductor, they create spin current, which is converted to an electrical current at the copper electrodes.
Credit: Kipp van Schooten and Dali Sun, University of Utah
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This is a very interesting concept and I look forward to seeing where it goes in the future. I'm intrigued to see where the use of organic semiconductors can go.
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