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Lynn Loo: Plastic electronics are electronic devices in which the active components are made out
Lynn Loo: of carbon-based materials, so these are plastics, polymers or small molecules. The reason you
Lynn Loo: want to make plastic electronics is because you want to make use of the attributes of
Lynn Loo: these plastic materials. These include their mechanical flexibility, they're lightweight,
Lynn Loo: they can be produced with tunable properties, and this is something you can't easily do
Lynn Loo: with inorganic materials. My name is Yueh-Lin Loo, and I work in the field of plastic electronics.
Lynn Loo: In the field of plastic electronics, it all starts with chemistry. We need to make or
Lynn Loo: synthesize new materials that are conductive or semi-conductive, so they have the electrical
Lynn Loo: properties that we would like, so that when we incorporate them into electronic devices,
Lynn Loo: they're active. In our group, some of the researchers make new materials, some of the
Lynn Loo: researchers characterize the structures of these materials, and some of them incorporate
Lynn Loo: these materials to understand their potential in applications like transistors and solar cells
Lynn Loo: Polyaniline is a conducting polymer that changes color. Here, this color change
Lynn Loo: is triggered by applying a voltage to the sample. The potential applications for polyaniline,
Lynn Loo: in addition to being electrodes, is that we can use it as electrochromic displays, as
Lynn Loo: well as sensors that change color when it's exposed to a specific chemical or reagent.
Lynn Loo: We use a process called spin coating to make thin layers of these compounds. The layers
Lynn Loo: end up to be about a hundred nanometers thick. That's about a thousand times thinner than my hair.
Lynn Loo: Here, we examine the films we make under the microscope to see how the crystals grew during
Lynn Loo: spin coating. We try to control the size of the crystals in the film.
Lynn Loo: The bigger the crystals, the better the devices will turn out.
Lynn Loo: To make the devices, we have to make electrical contact to the film by evaporating gold.
Lynn Loo: Gold is evaporated through a mask. The pattern of the mask determines where gold is coated.
Lynn Loo: After the placement of the mask, we put the sample in the gold evaporator.
Lynn Loo: Alternatively, we can evaporate gold electrodes on a clear silicone rubber stamp, and laminate the rubber
Lynn Loo: stamp onto the polymer film to make our devices.
Lynn Loo: The structure of the devices depends on their function. In my opinion, their beauty derives
Lynn Loo: from their functionality. Compared to inorganics like silicon, plastics have unique attributes.
Lynn Loo: These include their lightweightness, their mechanical flexibility, their potential low
Lynn Loo: cost, and their tunability in terms of their properties. So, to incorporate all these attributes
Lynn Loo: into electronic devices would be really nice.
Lynn Loo: The field's really exciting because it's a young field, and it's growing, and it's directly
Lynn Loo: tied to applications that can have direct implications on the quality of our lives.
Lynn Loo: Imagine electronic wallpaper that changes patterns from green stripes to pink polka
Lynn Loo: dots at a click of a switch. Imagine tinted windows that can also generate power during
Lynn Loo: the day. Imagine disposable sensors that would change color if the water source is contaminated.
Lynn Loo: Or yet, think of smart plastic patches that can monitor your health and deliver medication
Lynn Loo: when you're sick. The possibilities are endless.
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