A ruthenium compound is playing a vital role in a new gel which could potentially help electronic displays to be printed on any surface, it was revealed yesterday (29th April).

Researchers at Dai Nippon Printing in Tokyo, Japan have developed an ink which sees the ruthenium emit a bright light whenever it is charged with an electrical voltage, New Scientist reports.

The process also involves combining the compound with an electrolyte and silica nanoparticles, which serves to create the gel and subsequently stop the ink from decomposing.

These ingredients mean that a thin layer of the luminescent substance can be spread onto any surface using traditional screen-printing techniques, without requiring a protective coating.

At present, the researchers have only managed to get the gel to emit reddish colours and the pixels generated by the printing process tend to be rough, leading to grainy images.

However, they believe that it can be deposited using an ink-jet printer - leading to smaller pixels and higher resolution - and that more colours could be obtained with other metal compounds.

According to the publication, the technology could hit the market within five years and may be used to make light-emitting posters, clothes, flexible displays and lighting tools.

Source:

Press 'print' for a light-emitting T-shirt (29/04/09)

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