'Electronic paper' could represent future of clinical laboratory IT solutions

Clinical laboratory IT solutions could turn over a new leaf in the years to come, with the development of electronic paper.

The innovation is just one of the potential applications for flexible circuitry made by placing carbon nanotubes on plastic substrates.

Called "roll-to-roll manufacturing", the process allows thin-film transistors to be created with high levels of flexibility.

Scientists at Finland's Aalto University and Japan's Nagoya University have now produced the first working logic circuits to use carbon nanotubes.

These operate with just 12 microseconds of delay at each logic gate and both flip-flops and ring oscillators have successfully been fabricated.

Such materials could have applications not only in clinical laboratory IT solutions, but in consumer media devices with communication capabilities as part of a "ubiquitous information society" in the future.

This may be particularly relevant to related Finnish industries, as the country is home to mobile phone handset manufacturer Nokia.