Carbon based touchscreens on the way?
1 min read
A touchscreen display made from low priced, renewable raw materials is being developed by researchers from Fraunhofer. The display contains carbon nanotubes and the development team hope that the material will replace the more traditional indium tin oxide (ito) of which there are very few deposits in the world left.
According to Fraunhofer, manufacturers of electronic gadgets could become dependent on the prices set by indium suppliers, so its researchers have set to finding alternatives to ITO that are similarly efficient. They now claim to have developed a new material for electrodes that has the same qualities as ITO but is much cheaper. Its main components are carbon nanotubes and low cost polymers.
The new electrode foil is composed of two layers; one is the carrier, a thin foil made of inexpensive polyethylenterephthalate PET used for making plastic bottles; and a mixture of carbon nanotubes and electrically conducting polymers is added that is applied to the PET as a solution and forms a thin film when it dries.
The carbon nanotubes provided the combination of plastics with stability due to hardening on the PET to create a network where the electrically conducting polymers could be firmly anchored.
Ivica Kolaric, project manager from Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation, said: "The electrical resistance of our layer is somewhat greater than that of the ITO, but it's easily enough for an application in electrical systems."
According to Kolaric, as the foil is flexible, it could be used in a range of applications – even photovoltaic foils to line corrugated roofs or uneven structures.
