Liquid Crystal Displays With Printed Carbon-Based Recyclable Transistor Backplanes

We report the first demonstration of displays driven by embedded transistors that were additively manufactured entirely by aerosol jet printing. The backplanes of the liquid crystal displays (LCDs) consist of transistors printed from graphene, carbon nanotubes, and crystalline nanocellulose onto a glass substrate with prepatterned indium tin oxide electrodes. We addressed challenges of integrating fully printed devices into both the crossbar array structure and layered vertical structure required for an LCD, showing successful pixel switching at up to 60 Hz. As these thin-film transistors are printed exclusively from carbon-based recyclable materials, without high temperatures or vacuum processing, they offer a promising means for reducing waste in future display technologies.