Yet Another New DIsplay Tech

[fjtorres]

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-world-f...skin-like.html

A team led by Professor Debashis Chanda of UCF's NanoScience Technology Center and the College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL) has developed a technique for creating the world's first full-color, flexible thin-film reflective display.

Chanda's research was inspired by nature. Traditional displays like those on a mobile phone require a light source, filters and a glass plates. But animals like chameleons, octopuses and squids are born with thin, flexible, color-changing displays that don't need a light source - their skin.

"All manmade displays - LCD, LED, CRT - are rigid, brittle and bulky. But you look at an octopus, they can create color on the skin itself covering a complex body contour, and it's stretchable and flexible," Chanda said. "That was the motivation: Can we take some inspiration from biology and create a skin-like display?"
As detailed in the cover article of the June issue of the journal Nature Communications, Chanda is able to change the color on an ultrathin nanostructured surface by applying voltage. The new method doesn't need its own light source. Rather, it reflects the ambient light around it.

A thin liquid crystal layer is sandwiched over a metallic nanostructure shaped like a microscopic egg carton that absorbs some light wavelengths and reflects others. The colors reflected can be controlled by the voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer. The interaction between liquid crystal molecules and plasmon waves on the nanostructured metallic surface played the key role in generating the polarization-independent, full-color tunable display.

More at the source.
Expect commercial products using this around 2025-30.

[fjtorres]

Oh, and Qualcomm is still playing with Mirasol:

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-mirror-...ient.html#nRlv

[Dopedangel]

I am not sure if this tech will ever be commercialized for readers or tablets. Specially with the latest breakthrough in OLED tech that makes it 30 times more efficient.

http://www.oled-info.com/researchers...fficiency-3000

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

I am not sure if this tech will ever be commercialized for readers or tablets. Specially with the latest breakthrough in OLED tech that makes it 30 times more efficient.

http://www.oled-info.com/researchers...fficiency-3000

Sounds interesting and useful--someday--but the main problem with OLED is durability. Especially in large displays.

The biggest challenge to all new display techs is the ever-improving LCD.

I suspect the real use for the chameleon film tech won't be in readers or tablets.

[HarryT]

Your comment: "Expect commercial products using this around 2025-30" should sound a note of caution here. There's a huge difference between demonstrating something in a laboratory and commercial production.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Your comment: "Expect commercial products using this around 2025-30" should sound a note of caution here. There's a huge difference between demonstrating something in a laboratory and commercial production.

Which is why I threw in that big leap.

This particular tech has strong military value so it will very likely be actively pursued but its commercial use is going to be more limited.
In the tech world 15 years is an eternity.

I could've easily have said, "Don't hold your breath for an ereader using this."

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

I am not sure if this tech will ever be commercialized for readers or tablets. Specially with the latest breakthrough in OLED tech that makes it 30 times more efficient.

http://www.oled-info.com/researchers...fficiency-3000

Since current OLEDs are 4 to 20 percent efficient, a 30x improvement seems unlikely.

[jehane]

Can't we just train cephalopods to display our ebooks? As a bonus, they're waterproof! :P

[Graham]

Originally Posted by jehane

Can't we just train cephalopods to display our ebooks? As a bonus, they're waterproof! :P

We could call them squidInk displays.

Graham

[murg]

Originally Posted by jehane

Can't we just train cephalopods to display our ebooks? As a bonus, they're waterproof! :P

They'd suck...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jehane

Can't we just train cephalopods to display our ebooks? As a bonus, they're waterproof! :P

I think there would be major ethical issues with using living animals for this type of application. Their short lifespan (an octopus typically has a lifespan of 3-5 years) may also be a concern.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think there would be major ethical issues with using living animals for this type of application. Their short lifespan (an octopus typically has a lifespan of 3-5 years) may also be a concern.

They would probably only come with a one year warranty.
Apache

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by jehane

Can't we just train cephalopods to display our ebooks? As a bonus, they're waterproof! :P

While having a book reader that is waterproof is a good thing, having one that requires being kept wet is probably a drawback.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

While having a book reader that is waterproof is a good thing, having one that requires being kept wet is probably a drawback.

...unless your name is Arthur Curry or Namor Mackenzie...

[meeera]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think there would be major ethical issues with using living animals for this type of application. Their short lifespan (an octopus typically has a lifespan of 3-5 years) may also be a concern.

On the gripping tentacle, they can reproduce. Start with two readopuses, ends up with enough for the whole family!