However, the way that the Oxford University spin-out is using them could have uses outside of smartphones and wearables. Bodle Technologies is keeping mum on the details of their invention for now, but they have raised some serious financial backing for their project.
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Dr Hosseini explained the material can also be used to create smart windows, a market set to be worth around $2bn by 2017.
Scientists in the United Kingdom have designed a new type of touchscreen material, dubbed “smart glass”, which requires much less power to illuminate than conventional touch screens. Despite using very little energy to function, Bodle claims the screen is still as sharp as an average smartphone screen, even visible in direct sunlight. Low power options like E-Ink are not viable, since we all need color in our lives.
The display panel is one of the main reasons that modern day smartphones run out of battery so quickly.
While the promise of super-efficient touchscreens is still a ways away, the technology could forever change the way televisions, smartphones, laptops, and other screened electronics worldwide are developed. “But if you had a smartwatch or smart glass that didn’t need much power, you could recharge it just once a week”, says Dr Peiman Hosseini, an Oxford University researcher.
Aside from mobile gadgets, improving battery technology is seen as being key to the success of electric cars, which now have a limited mileage before they must stop to be recharged.
“We will be creating smart glazing which allows only certain wavelengths of light into a building, giving instant control over both the heat and light being transmitted, and over the appearance of the glass”, said Professor Harish Bhaskaran, who is leading the research.
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Using the optic technology based on rewritable DVDs, Hosseini and his team were able to develop a display that takes advantage of electrical pulses to create vivid images without using power.
