Construction of organic devices using melanin thin films as active layer

• Grant number: 11/10447-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: November 01, 2011
• End date: September 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Frederico de Oliveira Graeff
• Grantee: Wagner Souza Machado
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências (FC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Currently, the great interest in the construction of organic electronic devices has provided a rapid advance in order to obtain flexible optoelectronic devices, low environmental impact and low cost, using films of organic semiconductors. Recently, the construction of organic electronic devices using biological materials has shown the possibility of obtaining biocompatible devices, allowing their use in medicine devices. The melanins are natural pigments that have physicochemical properties such as absorption of light in the ultraviolet-visible, conductivity and photoconductivity, showing characteristics of amorphous semiconductors. With the possibility of depositing thin films of bio-organic materials, there is a opportunity to use them as active components in the construction of organic devices. This project aims to synthesize and prepare thin films of melanin for use as active layer in biocompatible organic memories and as semiconductor layer in biocompatible organic transistors. These devices will allow to study the transport mechanisms in thin films of eumelanin and possible applications of these devices as humidity sensors, chemical gas sensor and biosensors.