The Sony 11-inch OLED, released in Japan at the end of 2007 is built using organic light-emitting diodes

This predicted economic impact is steered by companies such as Sony, Kodak and Samsung spending substantial time and money to develop the technologies.

Traditionally, plastic has been used as an insulating material but fundamental research in the 1970s showed that some had the potential to conduct electricity as well. Transistors are a core component of modern electronics and plastic based transistors are not only easier but cheaper to make than their silicon equivalent. By exploiting the flexible property of plastic, the industry is creating pioneering technologies like flexible, ultrathin laptops which are not viable with the rigid constraints of silicon.

Devices such as televisions, iPods and digital watches still use conventional light-emitting displays. Introducing organic light-emitting displays, based on plastic electronics, to replace conventional displays would introduce flexibility, lower cost and even reduce energy consumption. Another promising advance is in the field of bionics where ultrathin and highly sensitive materials are being developed to give robots touch sensitive ‘skin’.

By Leila Sattary