S.A.G.A. (the Swedish-American Green Alliance) – a blog linked to the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm reports that two Swedish researchers – Ludvig Edman of Umeå University and Nathaniel Robinson of Linköping University – have teamed up with Rutgers University’s Manish Chhowalla to produce a new form of lighting using organic light-emitting diods (OLED), which can be printed by inkjet printers. OLED’s consist of a layer of semiconducting polymer sandwiched between two flat layers that act as electrodes. When an electric current is passed through the layers, the polymer gives off light. The Swedish-American team used graphite to make the layers, instead of a metal like aluminum. As a result, the flat lighting sheets can now be printed out using industrial inkjet printers, writes SAGA in their report. Using OLED’s instead of lightbulbs allows for considerable energy saving and reduction of CO” emissions.
