Graphene finds application in flexible touchscreens
1 min read
Most touchscreens are made using indium tin oxide (ITO), which is expensive and inflexible. However, researchers from the University of Surrey and Trinity College Dublin's materials science centre AMBER have shown that graphene treated nanowires can be used to produce flexible touchscreens at a fraction of the current cost.
Dr Alan Dalton from the University of Surrey said: "The growing market in devices such as wearable technology and bendable smart displays poses a challenge to manufacturers. They want to offer consumers flexible, touchscreen technology, but at a realistic price. At the moment, this market is severely limited in the materials to hand, which are expensive to make and designed for rigid flat devices."
Surrey's Dr Izabela Jurewicz added: "Our work has cut the amount of nanowires required to build such touchscreens by more than fifty times, as well as simplifying the production process."
AMBER's Professor Jonathan Coleman believes this is a 'real alternative' to ITO displays and could replace existing touchscreen technologies in electronic devices "We are currently working with industrial partners to implement this research into future devices and it is clear that the benefits will soon be felt by manufacturers and consumers alike."