Engineers like Tokitaro Hoshijima at Mitsubishi Chemical see the possibility of using spreadable electronics to create both ultra-thin displays and solar panels at the same time.

Because solar cells and OLEDs work on similar, but opposite, principles, it is possible to make materials that both take light and turn it into electricity and also do the opposite to provide a controllable display.

Hoshijima and many others are working on a molecular soup that can be spread anywhere and then dried to leave a residue layer that is only 100nm thick. This currently forms the basis for their proposed solar cell.

He explains: "What I want to create is a world that does not need power sockets." He goes on to describe how his paste applied to the back of a phone could be enough to charge the device when exposed to light.

By the same token, researchers at Sumitomo Chemical have created a similar organic solution that can be sprayed onto a surface to create an OLED screen.

Such a display could be on a rollable piece of plastic or even applied directly to a wall. The solar-charging properties described above mean it would never need to be plugged in.
Techradar