It has not been an easy month among the confinement due to COVID-19. However, we hope that all of you are safe and enjoy the following selection of Printed Electronics news.

Quantum dots: the LED successors?

Over the last decades, we have seen a transition in the screen market from tubes to plasma, LEDs, and OLEDs. However, the colour blue remains elusive today for OLED technology. Quantum dots—the technology that uses tiny semiconductor particles a few nanometres in size— could become the perfect substitute. How? The editors at Printed Electronics World tell us all about it.

The dye that went from Ferrari to powering electronics

Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) is a type of dye that was used to make the famous Ferrari red. However, the pigment also shows other promising qualities: it absorbs light energy and conducts electrical charge. Could it be used for developing electronic items? That is what a team of researchers at Queensland University are exploring.

Our new paper is out!

And it shows how roll-to-roll nanoimprinting lithography (R2RVANIL) can be used to pattern micropillars on biobased films. The resulting films show diffraction effect, that could be useful for different technologies. Read more here.

KAUST Discovery

Powering implants inside the body using only soundwaves?

Using a soft, biocompatible material that absorbs sound waves passed through the body, these researchers have developed a system that could power implants inside the body. They proved the concept by proved by charging an electrical device buried within beef, using a range of ultrasonic sources.