Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China.
Adv Mater. 2019 Oct;31(42):e1902739. doi: 10.1002/adma.201902739. Epub 2019 Sep 6.
Transient forms of electronics, systems that disintegrate, dissolve, resorb, or sublime in a controlled manner after a well-defined operating lifetime, are of interest for applications in hardware secure technologies, temporary biomedical implants, "green" consumer devices and other areas that cannot be addressed with conventional approaches. Broad sets of materials now exist for a range of transient electronic components, including transistors, diodes, antennas, sensors, and even batteries. This work reports the first examples of transient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that can completely dissolve in aqueous solutions to biologically and environmentally benign end products. Thin films of highly textured ZnO and polycrystalline Mo serve as semiconductors for light generation and conductors for transparent electrodes, respectively. The emitted light spans a range of visible wavelengths, where nanomembranes of monocrystalline silicon can serve as transient filters to yield red, green, and blue LEDs. Detailed characterization of the material chemistries and morphologies of the constituent layers, assessments of their performance properties, and studies of their dissolution processes define the underlying aspects. These results establish an electroluminescent light source technology for unique classes of optoelectronic systems that vanish into benign forms when exposed to aqueous conditions in the environment or in living organisms.
瞬态电子产品是指在经过明确的工作寿命后，以可控的方式分解、溶解、吸收或升华的系统，它们在硬件安全技术、临时生物医学植入物、“绿色”消费类设备等领域具有应用前景，这些领域无法通过传统方法解决。现在已经有了广泛的材料系列，可以用于各种瞬态电子元件，包括晶体管、二极管、天线、传感器，甚至电池。这项工作报道了首例完全可溶解于水溶液中的瞬态发光二极管（LED），最终生成生物和环境友好的产物。高度织构化 ZnO 和多晶 Mo 的薄膜分别用作发光半导体和透明电极导体。发射光覆盖了可见波长范围，单晶硅纳米膜可用作瞬态滤波器，产生红、绿、蓝 LED。对组成层的材料化学和形态的详细表征、对其性能特性的评估以及对其溶解过程的研究定义了这些方面。这些结果为独特类别的光电系统建立了电致发光光源技术，这些系统在暴露于环境或生物体中的水条件时会消失为良性形式。
