The rocket fuel hydrazine has turned out to be ideal in helping to make faster thin-film transistors, a crucial component of liquid crystal displays.

The key was the discovery that the semiconductor tin disulphide, which is insoluble in most liquids, can be dissolved in hydrazine if sulphur is added to the mix. By applying the solution to a silicon substrate and spinning it they were able to create a coating that left a layer of tin disulphide just five nanometres thick when heated. When laced with electron-rich and electron-poor “dopants” to turn the semiconductor into a transistor, the device was 10 times better at carrying electric charge than previous transistors.