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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

A rainbow of LEDs adorns objects at the stroke of a pen

Ordinary ballpoint pens loaded with conductive inks ‘write’ LEDs onto textiles, packaging and more.
Image showing the EL of PeLEDs drawn on diverse substrates, such as a vinyl glove.

A green LED created by laying down conductive inks shines from the fingertip of a vinyl glove . Credit: Junyi Zhao et al./Nat. Photonics

By filling common ballpoint pens with inks made of various conductive materials, researchers have hand-drawn light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on paper, fabric and everyday 3D objects1.

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Nature 620, 925 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02655-w

References

  1. Zhao, J., Lo, L-W., Yu, Z. & Wang, C. Nature Photonics https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-023-01266-1 (2023).

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