OLED made from Human Hair

 

                                                             We all know about the fact that throughout history, human hair has been used for different purposes. But, we had never thought before that it may be one day turned into OLED displays.

                             It is the first time for any person who can  make strands of hair luminescent and able to use them successfully in a light-emitting device (i.e, LED). In Brisbane, Australia, researchers at QUT (Queensland University of Technology) used a local barber shop’s trimmings for experimental purpose with turning hair strands into carbon nanodots that can glow bright enough to use in a smart device’s display. Professors Prashant sonar, ken(kostya) Ostrikov and their research team with professor Qin Li of Griffith University, have developed a method of turning the small hair strands into carbon nanodots, which are tiny, uniform dots that are one-millionth of a millimeter. Usually they all developed a way to break down hair and after that burned it around 240 degrees C or 464 degrees F to create flexible OLED displays that could be used in future smart devices.

 

Carbon nanodots, in short CDs are a new class of quantum dots. You have probably  noticed how much vibrant and clear the picture is in a Quantum dots (QD) tv. The reason behind it is , Quantum dots produce pure monochromatic red, blue and green light. LED in those TVs emit blue light rather than white and the QD is responsible for creating the red and green light. QDs job are to emit a single color and they are very good at it. If we give attention to the Carbon dots, they do the same thing as well as they are more eco-friendly. It has biocompatibility, chemical stability advantages, low toxicity. Using human hair waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill opens up new opportunities for sustainable technology.

                             Hair is a natural source of carbon and nitrogen. To get light-emitting particles, both of those elements need to be present. Because hair is made up of proteins, including keratin. Heating the hair up to such a high temperature, leaves carbon and nitrogen embedded in its molecular structure afterwards. That is what makes hair unexpectedly ideal for this application.

                             At QUT, the Carbon dots, produced from human hair were not bright enough to use in TV screens, but Sonar said that they could be ideal for use in different type of flexible and cheap screens used in wearables and other small smart devices. He also used a smart milk bottle as a hypothetical example. The bottle could have a sensor on the inside to track how long until the milk expires. A display on the outside is arranged to show that information. The small outer display would be made of the CDs created from human hair.

 

Now, Sonar and his researchers team have be able to make CDs from human hair. Their next step is to research on animal hair. If it works successfully, your cats or dogs fur could be used to make the screen on your smartwatch.

Thank you,

Koushik Hazra