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Stretchy arrays of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can be created using electrodes made of graphene — atomically thin sheets of carbon. Such arrays could one day be incorporated into devices from displays to medical monitors.
John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his colleagues laminated arrays of inorganic LEDs with graphene films. The flexibility of the graphene allows it to conform to the surface topography of the arrays. The authors then etched the graphene into shapes to form electrodes. The transparent electrodes provided robust electrical connections between the LEDs that allowed the researchers to stretch the arrays to roughly double their original length with no apparent change in function.
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Graphene lets LEDs stretch. Nature 477, 373 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/477373f
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/477373f