Organic electronic devices could be printed on ordinary CDs and DVDs

Organic electronics – those that involve carbon-based conductors instead of the traditional copper or silicon – have a number of advantages over metal electronics, including their light weight, flexibility, higher efficiency, and lower cost. But one of the biggest things holding them back is the lack of a simple, low-cost method for patterning and printing organic materials. Now in a new study, a team of researchers from the US and Australia has developed a patterning technique in which conducting polymers can be printed with a low-cost infrared laser on an ordinary CD or DVD using the commercially available LightScribe technology.