Guest_Jim_* Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Chances are that every day many of us interact with at least one touchscreen, and if that would happen to be the one in our phones, we are probably also somewhat protective of it. At least I know I do not want to risk breaking the screen, which is why there is a lot invested into finding ways to prevent this damage. One approach is to use less brittle materials in the touchscreen, and The Optical Society's Optical Materials Express journal has published a paper recently describing such a new material. Traditionally indium tin oxide (ITO) has been used in our touchscreens, because it is a transparent conductor, but it is also very fragile and somewhat expensive. While some have been looking at organic thin films to replace ITO, the new paper describes using a hybrid film instead. The hybrid film contains both organic and inorganic materials to achieve the necessary optical and electrical properties. In fact, compared to glass the hybrid layers are 96% to 100% transparent, while still survive 10,000 bending cycles without resistance increasing too much. Just as important as its transparency and flexibility is that the hybrid thin film can be made very cheaply in solution, at low temperatures, and without a high-vacuum. It can even be made with enough layers to act as an anti-reflective coating, which may allow for new applications. Source: The Optical Society Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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