Devices made from plastic semiconductors, like solar cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), could be improved based on information gained using a new nanoparticle technique developed at The University of Texas at Austin.

As electrical charges travel through plastic semiconductors, they can be trapped much like a marble rolling on a bumpy surface becomes trapped in a deep hole. These traps of charges are known as “deep traps,” and they are not well understood.

A group of scientists developed a single-particle technique to study small portions of semiconductor material at the nanoscale.

The research result could be used to improve devices made out of these conjugated polymers, designing new materials that can avoid these deep traps.