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DIY OLED Light

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) are a promising technology that could offer greatly more energy-efficient screens for phones, cameras, computers and televisions. OLEDs all work on the same principle of passing a charge through a thin layer of organic semiconductor material, causing it to emit light. The means of producing OLEDs for high-tech consumer electronic devices economically has not yet been perfected, so the materials are not readily available. Nonetheless, you can make a simple OLED device on your own if you can track down (and afford!) the right materials.

Things You'll Need

Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) coated glass microscope slide
Multimeter
Double-sided sticky tape
2 cotton applicators
Hair drier
10 ml ruthenium [Ru(bpy)3](BF4)2 polyvinylalcohol solution
Duct tape
Aluminum foil
Hole puncher
1 g liquid gallium-indium alloy
4.5-volt power supply

Instructions

Make Your Own OLED
- 1
  Using the multimeter, find the conductive side of the tin oxide-coated glass. Touching both of the leads to the correct side should cause the meter to read between 20 and 30 ohms.
- 2
  Put a small piece of double-stick tape on the non-conductive side of the glass and secure it to a workbench or table you won't mind cleaning up later.
- 3
  Dip the cotton applicator in the ruthenium [Ru(bpy)3](BF4)2 polyvinylalcohol solution, and spread a very thin layer of the solution over about half the conductive side of the glass. If you locate the solution to one side, it will make your life easier in the end. Dry out the solution with your hair dryer.
- 4
  Repeat Step 3 four times, so that you have applied four layers of the ruthenium solution. On the last time, direct the hair dryer on the glass for at least a full minute to definitively dry out the superconductor solution.
- 5
  Cut off a small piece of aluminum foil (about 1 inch by 1 inch), then a cover one side of it with a piece of duct tape. Use the hole puncher to make holes in the middle to make a template.
- 6
  Deposit a few dots of liquid gallium-indium alloy through the hole in your template using a cotton swab.
- 7
  Place the positive lead of your 4.5-volt power supply to the half of you tin-oxide glass without the ruthenium coating. Now, gently touch the negative lead to the dots of gallium-indium. The alloy should now act as an electrode and light up.

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