Programmable transparent organic luminescent tags

Sci Adv. 2019 Feb 1;5(2):eaau7310. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aau7310. eCollection 2019 Feb.

Abstract

A milestone in the field of organic luminescent labeling is reached, as fast and multiple (>40 cycles) printing of information onto any substrate in any size for very low costs is shown, resulting in rewritable high-resolution (>700 dpi) and high-contrast images. By making use of a simple device structure containing nothing but highly available materials, an ultrathin, flexible, and fully transparent layer stack was realized. Using light alone, any luminescent image can be printed into and erased from this layer contactless and without the need of any ink. Compared to existing approaches, the demonstrated concept represents a promising method for production of luminescent on-demand tags with the potential to supersede conventional labeling techniques in many ways.