2023-04-17 21:12:00
Why it matters: Many companies think foldable phones are making a comeback. However, limited offers, high prices and durability issues have prevented flip smartphones from becoming mainstream. A research group set out to solve all these problems by using materials science to develop a rubbery OLED display.
Scientists at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering have developed a prototype OLED display that can bend, stretch, twist and bend better than any flexible display we’ve seen so far. here. Researchers say the screen can expand up to twice its actual size without compromising durability.
The material looks like a clear rubber fob that you might put on a keychain. When power is applied, an image or pattern lights up. The displayed image has a high level of clarity and is bright enough that the substance loses almost all of its transparency in the image area.
The team didn’t stumble upon the substance by accident, as many other groundbreaking discoveries do. Molecular engineering professor Juan de Pablo and assistant professor Sihong Wang intentionally sought to develop a highly flexible light-emitting rubber. Their combined knowledge of advanced polymers and electroluminescence allowed them to approach the goal at the molecular level.
“We were able to develop atomic models of the new polymers of interest, and with those models, we simulated what happens to those molecules when you pull on them and try to bend them,” de Pablo said in a press release. “Now that we understand these properties at the molecular level, we have a framework to design new materials where flexibility and luminescence are optimized. »
Wang previously worked on creating neuromorphic computer chips that can flex and stretch. He said the screen was just one step in his “dream” of creating expandable versions of all computer components. The rubbery screen is a “huge” leap towards that goal.
We have also demonstrated fully stretchable OLED devices, indicating that stretchable TADF polymers can simultaneously achieve high efficiency, brightness, switching speed and scalability as well as low drive voltage. pic.twitter.com/So5iUnTE8Z
– Sihong Wang (@SihongWang_UChi) 6 avril 2023
Currently, the prototype is minimal in size and can only display two colors (green and white). The team’s next step is to increase the color gamut. Moreover, while the efficiency of the device is already tied with contemporary OLEDs, Wang wants to increase performance. He tweeted that “100% quantum efficiency” is theoretically feasible.
Engineers see industries using the technology for more than just foldable phones. While the polymer would certainly improve production costs and durability of clamshell devices, Wang sees manufacturers using the displays in form-fitting wearables, medical instruments, and better implantable optogenetic monitors used to examine neural activity and disease. of the brain.
If the technicality of materials science doesn’t make your head spin, Wang and Pablo’s study, “High-Efficiency Stretchable Light-Emitting Polymers from Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence,” is available in the scientific journal Nature. april.
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