Table 1.
Chronological advancement in flexible electronics.
| Advancement in Flexible Materials | Year/Era | References |
|---|---|---|
| Early use of flexible material as straw with slurry for strengthening houses | BC | [89] |
| Discovery of electric conduction in organic materials | 1862 | [90] |
| Polymers conceptualized—rapid development followed | 1920 | [91] |
| Invention of flexible solar panels | 1967 | [92] |
| Implementation of flexible single silicon solar cells on satellites | 1968 | [92,93] |
| Development of Thin Film Transistor (TFT) by Radio Corporation America (RCA) | 1968 | [94,95] |
| Development of the first Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) | 1973 | [96,97] |
| Implementation of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon (a-Si:H) cells on flexible polymers | 1976 | [98] |
| Development of the conjugated polymer “Polyacetylene” | 1977 | [99] |
| Development of a-Si:H/ITO cells on organic polymer | Early 1980’s | [100,101] |
| Invention of Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Displays (AMLCD) in Japan | Mid 1980’s | [100] |
| Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLED) display on the flexible substrate | 1992 | [102] |
| Development of a-Si:H/TFT circuit on flexible polyimide | 1994 | [53] |
| Integration of OLED with a-Si TFT on a metal foil | 1996 | [103] |
| Development of a-Si:H TFT on the flexible stainless steel foil | 1996 | [103] |
| Development of Polycrystalline Silicon (Poly-Si) TFT on a plastic substrate | 1997 | [104,105] |
| Implementation of a multilayer inorganic and polymer substrates | 2003 | [106,107] |
| Phillips produced rollable electrophoretic displays | 2005 | [108] |
| Samsung developed a 7” flexible LCD | 2006 | [109] |
| Universal Display Centre and Palo Alto Research Centre presented OLED displays with full colour | 2006 | [110] |
| Development of polymer hybrid material for permeation barriers | 2008 | [111] |
| Development of White Organic Light Emitting Diode (WOLED) displays | 2008 | [112] |
| The development of the first flexible smartphone called paper phone | 2011 | [113] |
| Development of flexible displays on plastic for smartphones | 2012 | [114] |
| Curved OLED Display for 55-inch television and smartphones | 2013 | [115] |
| Flexible paper display for eBooks | 2013 | [116] |
| Flexible erasable writeable paperless tablet using LCPs | 2013 | [116] |
| AMOLED flexible display technology | 2013 | [117] |
| Flexible smartwatches, flexible heartbeat and blood pressure measuring sensors, RFID tags, flexible reconfigurable antennas, flexible energy harvesting circuits, | 2013–2020 | [118] |