Quest for flexible displays and circuitry has taken researchers to unhcartered realms with a varying degree of success, they are still looking for optimum solution that not only fulfills all the requirements, but is also cost effective.
To this end, a team of researchers have moved a stop closer towards bendable electronics. Through a paper published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers at Sichuan University, China claim that they have developed the first light-emitting, transparent and flexible paper out of environmentally friendly materials via a simple, suction-filtration method.
There have been developments in the field of bendable electronics and many have had success, but most of these advances rely on petroleum-based plastics and toxic materials. This is where the research by Yu-Zhong Wang, Fei Song and colleagues is different. They looked for ways to make the whole technology a lot greener.
Using wood flour, researchers made from a thin, clear nanocellulose paper and infused it with biocompatible quantum dots — tiny, semiconducting crystals — made out of zinc and selenium. The paper glowed at room temperature and could be rolled and unrolled without cracking.
“We describe a simple suction filtration method to develop a transparent and photoluminescent nanocellulose (NC) paper, which contains ZnSe quantum dot (QD) with high quantum yield as a functional filler”, the researchers note in the paper. “ZnSe QD can be dispersed uniformly in NC, and a quite low coefficient of thermal expansion is determined for the resultant composite paper, suggesting its good dimensional stability.”
The researchers add that their findings hold a great potential in the information age.
“Let It Shine: A Transparent and Photoluminescent Foldable Nanocellulose/Quantum Dot Paper” paper can be found on ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
