Step forward for light-emitting textiles
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Nature Photonics
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Materials science
Embargo
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London: Monday 23 March 2015 16:00 (GMT)
New York: Monday 23 March 2015 12:00 (EDT)
Tokyo: Tuesday 24 March 2015 01:00 (JST)
Sydney: Tuesday 24 March 2015 03:00 (AEDT)
The development of thin, light-emitting fibres that can be woven into textiles and could be
used in so-called smart fabrics is described in research published online this week in Nature
Photonics.
Polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells (PLECs) are similar to organic light-emitting
diodes (OLEDs), which have applications in technologies such as flexible flat panel displays
and lighting. However, PLECs have certain advantages over OLEDs, including low operating
power and highly efficient electron to photon conversion, which make them more suitable for
use in portable and wearable electronics.
Huisheng Peng and colleagues found that a fibre-shaped PLEC could be made by coating a
thin steel wire with a layer of zinc oxide nanoparticles, an electroluminescent polymer and an
outer carbon nanotube (CNT) layer. The fibres are around one millimetre thick and emit blue
or yellow light, although other colours could be available in the future. They can be twisted
together and woven into patterns in textiles. Unlike glass optical fibres, which guide light
from one location to another, these metal–polymer–carbon fibres emit light from their entire
surface when an electrical signal of a few volts or more is applied between the metal inner
wire and the outer CNT layer.
The authors suggest their manufacturing process can be scaled up, which could lead to largescale production of clothing that directly emits light.
In an accompanying News & Views article, Enrique Ortí and Henk Bolink write that the
method “is a major step forward in the preparation of light-emitting fibres that suit integration
with woven fabrics.”
Article and author details
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A colour-tunable, weaveable fibre-shaped polymer light-emitting
electrochemical cell
Corresponding Author
Huisheng Peng (Fudan University, Shanghai, China)
Email: penghs@fudan.edu.cn, Tel: +86 21 51630316
News & Views Author
Henk Bolink (Universidad de Valencia, Spain)
Email: henk.bolink@uv.es
DOI
10.1038/nphoton.2015.37
Online paper*
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.37
* Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo
ends).
IMAGES:
Image 1
Caption: Fiber-shaped polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells with tunable colors are
twisted together to generate colorful lights.
Credit: Zhitao Zhang