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Researchers at York University have devised methods for recycling waste materials from liquid crystal displays for use as tissue scaffolds in regenerative medicine and for other biomedical applications.
Polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA), widely used in industry, is a key element of television sets with liquid crystal displays. Typically these displays are incinerated or buried in landfill sites when the televisions are scrapped.
The research was carried out at the York Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence and the York Liquid Crystal Group. James Clark, director of the Centre said, “It is important that we find ways of recycling as many elements of LCDs as possible so we don’t simply have to resort to burying and burning them.”
The technique involves heating the recovered material in water in a microwave and washing it in ethanol to produce expanded PVA. One of the key properties of the resulting material is that it is non-immunogenic, making it suitable for use in biomedical applications.
The findings are the result of a long-term project examining ways to deal with LCD waste, which is funded by the UK Technology Strategy Board.
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