White LED Lighting Grows Directly On Paper

 
20120710-234648.jpgWhite LEDs that can be printed and manufactured directly on paper have been developed by researcher Gul Amin from Linköping University.

With the development of this new technology, applications as diverse as luminous curtains, bright wallpaper that functions as lighting, self-lit books, etc., are possible.

Gul Amin, in his doctoral thesis at the Physical Electronics and Nanotechnology group, Campus Norrköping, demonstrated how it’s possible for white LEDs to be grown directly on paper. And also, as an example, how to print them on wallpaper — the method for this is currently patent pending.

The LEDs, which are made from zinc oxide and a conducting polymer, can be manufactured directly on paper. The active components of the technology “are nanorods of zinc oxide on a thin layer of polydiethylflourene (PFO), a conducting polymer. But the paper has first been coated with a thin, water-repellent, protective and levelling layer of cyclotene, a resin.”

20120710-234706.jpg“This is the first time anyone has been able to build electronic and photonic inorganic semiconducting components directly on paper using chemical methods,” says professor Magnus Willander, who is leading the research.

 

 

One of the thesis’ other articles, published in the Journal of Material Science, demonstrates how it’s possible to grow nanorods on paper, then use ultrasound to blow them off the surface, and then collect them in the form of a powder. The powder “can then be used to print the nanorods of zinc oxide, and thus LEDs, on paper or plastic in a normal printing press.” This method of manufacture also has patents pending.

The research was just published in the journal Phys. Status Solidi — Rapid Research Letters.

Source and Images: Linköping University

2 thoughts on “White LED Lighting Grows Directly On Paper”

  1. This kind of article should be published in a new technology R&D context, not an energy solutions forum. Hyped breakthroughs in physics labs actually disempower real investment in currently profitable and sustainable technology. The Chinese advantage is growing because they are able to ignore the hype and sell good cheap existing solutions, and plow the profits into R&D. We are losing because we are betting on R&D racehorses without a revenue stream first. You can only buy so many racehorses that way. Example: GE halts production of solar film in Aurora, CO before it is operational, trying to jump R&D ahead another 3 years.
    Remember, Google’s early business model was based on off-the-shelf equipment.
    Ultimately we need to stop dickin’ around and set a carbon price.

    1. I completely agree… except with the idea that the story shouldn’t have been posted here. We cover science news a lot; it’s one of our main topics — everything has to start somewhere.

      That said, governmental policies should certainly be focusing a lot more on deployment, and a carbon price should have been set 20 years ago, but it’s all the more urgent now.

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