“I imagine a room covered withelectronic wall paperprogrammed to show a series of Van Gogh punctures, and roll-up paper newspapers that are reused the next day and show new news every day ”, predicts Zheng-Hong Lu, researcher at the University of Toronto (Canada) and creator of theflexible organic light emitting diodes(FLOEDs). With them, he assures, all screens could be replaced by a thin, light and transparent film capable of adapting to any shape.
In the future they will also beflexible and roll-up solar panels. The DuPont firm, creator of materials as well known today as nylon, Teflon and neoprene, is committed to the use of its latest invention: theKapton, a colorless material ideal as a substrate to make photovoltaic cadmium tellurium modules as thin as cardboard. Attributes are not lacking, since it is 100 times thinner and 2000 times lighter than the equivalent of glass used so far in solar panels, it is transported comfortably rolled up, it withstands extremely high temperatures and, used to obtain energy, holds the world record of efficiency of conversion of sunlight into electricity.
For their part, Belgian engineers have developed a technology to implant any chip or electronic system on a flexible substrate. Dubbed Ultra-Thin Packaging Technology (UTCP), it could be the basis forelectronic fabrics of the future, which will allow us to carry the music incorporated into the shirt, show the humidity level and the outside temperature on the coat, monitor environmental pollution, see in any sports garment how the heartbeat accelerates while we practice physical exercise and what the activity is muscle through an electromyogram, etc. And all adding to cotton or polyester a light film with a thickness of only 25 microns.
