FLEXIBLE GRAPHENE-BASED LED PAVES THE WAY FOR FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS

British Universities Create 2D LED Semiconductor That Could be Basis For Flexible and Semi-Transparent Electronics

A new prototype, graphene-based LED device could open the door to flexible screens for future mobile phones, tablets and televisions. The device was created by researchers from the University of Manchester and University of Sheffield using sandwiched “heterostructures” and is just 10-40 atoms thick. Team leader Sir Kostya Novoselov was part of the first successful effort to isolate graphene of single-atom thickness in 2004. Novoselov and his team have now created a new 2D LED semiconductor “using a combination of metallic graphene, insulating hexagonal boron nitride and various semiconducting monolayers.” This has allowed the researchers to produce a LED device that is exceptionally thin, flexible and inherently bright. “By preparing the heterostructures on elastic and transparent substrates, we show that they can provide the basis for flexible and semi-transparent electronics,” said Novoselov.