New 3D-printable material could enable cheaper manufacturing processes for OLED televisions, smartphones, light fixtures, and wearable devices
A research team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has developed “supramolecular ink”, a new technology for use in OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays or other electronic devices. Made of inexpensive, earth-abundant elements. Supramolecular ink could enable more affordable and environmentally sustainable flat-panel screens and electronic devices.
Principal investigator and a faculty senior scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and professor of chemistry and materials science and engineering at UC Berkeley, Peidong Yang, stated, “By replacing precious metals with Earth-abundant materials, our supramolecular ink technology could be a game changer for the OLED display industry. What’s even more exciting is that the technology could also extend its reach to organic printable films for the fabrication of wearable devices as well as luminescent art and sculpture.”
If you have a relatively new smartphone or flat panel TV, there’s a good chance it features an OLED screen. OLEDs are rapidly expanding in the display market because they are lighter, thinner, use less energy, and have better picture quality than other flat-panel technologies. OLEDs contain tiny organic molecules that emit light directly, eliminating the need for the extra backlight layer that is found in a liquid crystal display (LCD). However, OLEDs can include rare, expensive metals like iridium.
The Berkeley Lab team recently discovered how the new material could potentially adopt a cheaper fabrication process for electronic displays.
The new material consists of powders containing hafnium (Hf) and zirconium (Zr) that can be mixed in solution at low temperatures – from room temperature up to around 176 degrees Fahrenheit (80 degrees Celsius) – to form a semiconductor ink.
Additional experiments at UC Berkeley showed that the supramolecular ink is also compatible with 3D printing technologies such as for the design of decorative OLED lighting.
Cheng Zhu, a Ph.D. candidate in materials science and engineering at UC Berkeley added that manufacturers could also use the supramolecular ink to fabricate wearable devices or high-tech clothing that illuminates for safety in low-light conditions, or wearable devices that display information through the supramolecular light-emitting structures.