Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Cambridge have created an organic semiconductor in which electrons move in a spiral pattern. The light emitted could make OLED screens in televisions and smartphones much more energy efficient. They have published their findings in Science.

Organic semiconductors dominate display technology. The molecular materials they are made of offer a high degree of flexibility for designing unique structures. For some time now, researchers have also been trying to use chiral structures to design semiconductors, in the hope of generating circularly polarised (rotating) light. This light could help displays save a significant amount of energy.

Now, an international team of researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Cambridge has succeeded by stacking semiconducting molecules as left- or right-rotating spiral columns. Thanks to their chiral structure, the spiral columns emit a strong green, circularly polarised light. According to co-first author and chemist Marco Preuß (TU Eindhoven), the project demonstrates the importance of international collaboration: ’We in Eindhoven designed the material and Cambridge contributed the physics knowledge to build the device.