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The TV screen of the future could be as thin as a sheet of paper, made
of plastic, and originate in work at the University of Cambridge’s physics
and chemistry departments. A team from the two departments has discovered
how to make a plastic called polyphenylene vinylene (PPV) emit red, green
and blue light – the same colours used in any TV picture. A sheet of such
plastic could act as a screen.

The different light wavelengths are produced by altering the structure
of the molecular chain of the polymer. When electrons move along the chain,
they energise it; as the chain returns to its original state it emits light.
According to team member Andrew Holmes, seen above with a sample of the
material, ‘red and green proved relatively easy, but we’re still improving
the blue’.

The next hurdles are to make the light intensities equal for all colours,
and test the product in industrial use. Holmes says that the work has produced
‘huge’ commercial interest.