Thin, flexible displays have been on the agenda for many years in research labs around the world.

 

Such displays have many advantages like being more robust than glass based displays, flexibility means they are much more suitable for small portable devices starting from watches to cellphones and  other multi media devices carried in our pockets.

Flexible displays, providing they are as robust as expected can be integrated into bags and even clothing as well. This would allow a big step towards the merge of electronic and clothing = Wearable Electronic. The clothing becomes our device, no need to carry multiple gadgets around, all the functions we need and want are part of our second skin = clothing.

Dr. Weijia Wen and colleagues at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology have developed a new kind of display that exploits thermochromism – the ability of a material to change colour as its temperature changes.

 

The new display relies on thermochromism, meaning it is an electronic device that can display various colors depending on temperature changes it undergoes.

At only 150 microns in thickness, the new device is made of a thermochromic composite, made of wires arranged in a specific pattern. These wires are produced from metallic nanoparticles which have been dispersed in a polymer called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

 

 

These patterns can rapidly change color, ranging from white to dark green, at temperatures exceeding 60°C. To reach this temperature, an electric field is applied to two electrodes, which heat up. The process produces the best clarity for thermochromic materials ever achieved.

Based on the ease of fabrication and simple architecture, thermochromic displays could have advantages in lowering the display unit cost and, due to their heating pulse control scheme, can also lower power consumption compared with conventional displays.

The present demonstrator display shows just a logo but Dr. Wen's next step will be to construct pixels and add more colors.

Only tie will tell how far or close Dr. Wen has come to a flexible display that will make it to the market at reasonable costs and most important, robust enough to withstand the requirements of the consumer market.


Source: nanowerk.com