Plastic electronics made easy

Scientists have discovered a way to better exploit a process that could revolutionise the way that electronic products are made. The scientists from Imperial College London say improving the industrial process, which is called crystallisation, could revolutionise the way we produce electronic products, leading to advances across a whole range of fields; including reducing the cost and improving the design of plastic solar cells (see pull-out box). The process of making many well-known products from plastics involves controlling the way that microscopic crystals are formed within the material. By controlling the way that these crystals are grown engineers can determine the properties they want such as transparency and toughness. Controlling the growth of these crystals involves engineers adding small amounts of chemical additives to plastic formulations. This approach is used in making food boxes and other transparent plastic containers, but up until now it has not been used in the electronics industry. The team from Imperial College have now demonstrated that these additives can also be used to improve how an advanced type of flexible circuitry called plastic electronics is made.