Screen technology is getting a significant boost as researchers from the Nano-lithography and Manufacturing Research Center of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) and the company Meta2People have created a new 100-inch Nano Transparent Screen (NTS), which can change its transparency depending on its environment.
These screens can be produced relatively cheaply, making them commercially accessible to customers who may soon begin seeing such devices in their communities used as transparent store displays, smart windows in buildings, digital map displays, and more.
“The technology for manufacturing NTSs is a cutting-edge, innovative technology created through the combination of nanomaterials and nanomanufacturing technology with existing IT technologies,” said Principal Researcher Jun-Ho Jeong of the KIMM commented in a recent statement.
“Going forward, we will focus on research and development to continuously improve the quality of NTSs and lead the popularization of transparent screens,” he added.
How Does a Nano Transparent Screen Work?
The secret to making a fully adjustable smart screen is its chemical composition. The researchers developed the NTS as a thin film coating the width of a human hair. Within this film, nanoparticles made of titanium dioxide (TiO₂), 100 nanometers in diameter, are suspended evenly across the material.
Titanium dioxide is a common material in many industrial products, often used in its white powder form. Because of this, it can create a durable white coating for devices, giving them higher optical stability.
Because of its chemical composition, when light is emitted onto the screen, it can be viewed from 170 degrees, meaning that at practically any angle, viewers can see a clear image on the screen.
The screen can also be further enhanced by adding a custom Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) film created by the KIMM’s research team. Here, the PDLC film’s transparency is controlled via an electric field, which adjusts the liquid crystals suspended to make the film more transparent or opaque. Adding the PDLC to the NTS allows for more detailed images to appear crisper and clearer by lowering the screen’s transparency.
How Does NTS Stack Up against OLEDs?
The other high-end technology used to make smart screens is organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), which use layers of semiconductors in a film or device to emit light. OLEDs have become popular due to their energy efficiency (as they don’t require any backlighting, unlike LED displays) and their ability to produce a “true black” hue. The OLED films also make devices lighter and thinner, requiring fewer materials.
However, the KIMM researchers found that OLED displays are still more expensive than their newly developed NTS film. A traditional 100-inch transparent OLED display costs over 100 million South Korean Won, which is incredibly expensive.
Alternatively, the researchers could produce their NTS film at 10% of the price of the OLED, making it much more affordable for consumers. Part of this reduction comes from the fact that the NTS can be produced through a roll-to-roll process, allowing production to be scaled to make more film at a lower rate. The film is also more robust to temperature changes and weather conditions, making it a suitable choice for outdoor displays.
“This research is substantially meaningful in that the KIMM has successfully commercialized its technology jointly with a research institute spin-off company established through the KIMM’s investment of its original patented technology,” Seog-Hyeon Ryu, President of the KIMM, remarked.
“We will continue to devote ourselves to the development of technologies that can contribute to the development of national strategic technologies and also to the revitalization of local economies,” Ryu added.
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is the Science Communicator at JILA (a world-leading physics research institute) and a science writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with her on X or contact her via email at kenna@thedebrief.org