Scientists Create a New Type of Ultra-High-Res Flexible Display
We are surrounded by imperfect screens. Our smartphones, laptops, televisions, watches, billboards, thermostats and even glasses all have screens with drawbacks: Some don’t work in sunlight, others mercilessly drain your battery; some can’t do rich color, and some can’t display a true black; most can’t be rolled up and tucked in your pocket.
But something better may be on the way.
In research published today in Nature, scientists describe what may be the first steps toward creating a new type of ultrathin, superfast, low-power, high-resolution, flexible color screen. If the inevitable engineering difficulties in bringing a product from the lab to the living room can be overcome, these displays could combine some of the best features of current display technologies.
The new displays work with familiar materials, including the metal alloy already used to store data on some CDs and DVDs. The key property of these materials is that they can exist in two states. Zap them with heat, light, or electricity and they switch from one state to the other. Scientists call them phase-change materials (PCMs).
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