A research team from Yonsei University, Republic of Korea, claims to have developed a freeforming, transparent display using a hybrid 3D printing system to combine digital light processing for printing 3D mechanical architectures with an electrohydrodynamic jet for directly printing transparent pixels of OLED’s at room temperature.
The researchers suggest that this breakthrough could be used to create high resolution transparent displays embedded inside freeforming, 3D architectures unburdened by the installation restrictions imposed on typical OLED displays.
Overcoming this hurdle could lead to new applications beyond the improvement of scalability in device integration, with the team’s report suggesting that the technology could be used to incorporate optoelectronics into 3D structures with enhanced functionalities for devices such as optical, electrical and mechanical functionalities.
The report states: "One of the alternative technologies that can overcome the limitations of photolithography is direct 3D printing...For example, printing technologies, such as direct ink writing, digital light processing (DLP), selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), and inkjet printing, can be adapted to print 3D structures for a wide range of applications including electronic circuits, batteries, photonic structures, and optoelectronic devices.
"The development combines DLP and electrohydrodynamic jet (eâ€jet) printing for the production of transparent and freeform 3D optoelectronic devices in ambient air, with the DLP method capable of printing transparent plastic frames with arbitrary 3D shapes. The 3D eâ€jet printing method is used successively for direct printing of highâ€resolution organic lightâ€emitting diode (OLED) pixels onto these DLPâ€printed, 3D mechanical frames.“
The 3D e-jet can print a variety of functional materials for optoelectronic devices with high resolutions, capable of printing all components of optoelectronic devices from 3D mechanical frames to all OLED layers.