| Researchers have developed an ultra-thin and ultra-flexible electronic material that could be printed and rolled out like newspaper, for the touchscreens of the future. | |
| The touch-responsive technology is 100 times thinner than existing touchscreen materials and so pliable it can be rolled up like a tube. | |
| To create the new conductive sheet, an RMIT University-led team used a thin film common in cell phone touchscreens and shrunk it from 3D to 2D, using liquid metal chemistry. | |
| The nano-thin sheets are readily compatible with existing electronic technologies and because of their incredible flexibility, could potentially be manufactured through roll-to-roll (R2R) processing just like a newspaper. | |
| The research, with collaborators from UNSW, Monash University and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET), is published in the journal Nature Electronics (“Flexible two-dimensional indium tin oxide fabricated using a liquid metal printing technique”). |
| Lead researcher Dr Torben Daeneke said most cell phone touchscreens were made of a transparent material, indium-tin oxide, that was very conductive but also very brittle. | |
| “We’ve taken an old material and transformed it from the inside to create a new version that’s supremely thin and flexible,” said Daeneke, an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow at RMIT. | |
| “You can bend it, you can twist it, and you could make it far more cheaply and efficiently that the slow and expensive way that we currently manufacture touchscreens. | |
| “Turning it two-dimensional also makes it more transparent, so it lets through more light. | |
| “This means a cell phone with a touchscreen made of our material would use less power, extending the battery life by roughly 10%.” |
Image Credit: RMIT University
News This Week
Hunt on for future Covid mutations that cause treatments to lose potency
Scientists are to increase surveillance for new coronavirus mutations amid concerns that future strains of the virus could develop at least partial resistance to antibody treatments and Covid-19 vaccines. There is no evidence that the [...]
COVID-19 causing virus can survive 28 days on surfaces
From the moment you turn off your morning alarm, to the time you hit the pillow, your life is full of surfaces. Swiping through your phone, opening doors, putting in your PIN – there are [...]
‘Brain Fog’ Following COVID-19 Recovery May Indicate PTSD
A new report suggests that lingering “brain fog” and other neurological symptoms after COVID -19 recovery may be due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an effect observed in past human coronavirus outbreaks such as SARS [...]
Pain Relief Caused by SARS-CoV-2 May Help Explain Coronavirus Spread
ClSARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can relieve pain, according to a new study by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers. The finding may explain why nearly half of people who get COVID-19 [...]
‘Totally Under Control’ – Alex Gibney Uncovers Trump’s Coronavirus Failings in New Doco
Contrary to president Donald Trump’s repeated declarations, the coronavirus pandemic was not — and still isn’t — totally under control. That lie is central to “Totally Under Control,” the [...]
COVID-19 May Deplete Testosterone
Summary: A new study suggests COVID-19 may deplete testosterone levels in males. Findings reveal as testosterone decreased, the severity of coronavirus increased. Men who died from coronavirus infection had significantly lower mean testosterone than those [...]
UK scientists begin study of how long Covid can survive in the air
It is the question scientists around the world are trying to answer: how long can the coronavirus survive in the tiny aerosol particles we exhale? In a high-security lab near Bristol, entered through a series [...]
Glycans in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein play active role in infection
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, researchers are working overtime to develop vaccines and therapies to thwart SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the disease Many efforts focus on the coronavirus spike protein, which binds the [...]
Coronavirus: found to be heat tolerant, self-healing and very resilient in lab tests
A research team in Hungary pinched the coronavirus with a fine needle to measure how much force it could take before popping like a balloon. It did not. The native virion of Sars-CoV-2 – a [...]
Headaches and delirium: coronavirus can invade brain, study says
Headaches, confusion and delirium experienced by some Covid-19 patients could be the result of the coronavirus directly invading the brain, according to a study published Wednesday. The research is still preliminary – but offers several [...]
Coronavirus Pandemic: Guidance for Better Mental Health
By Boris M | Published in Coronavirus During the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be a lot of information about the virus and its effects on mental health. That’s because coronavirus and the social, financial and psychological [...]
The coronavirus is mutating — does it matter?
When COVID-19 spread around the globe this year, David Montefiori wondered how the deadly virus behind the pandemic might be changing as it passed from person to person. Montefiori is a virologist who has spent [...]
Expert: Bad reaction to Oxford COVID-19 vaccine likely ‘life-threatening’
A serious illness suffered by an Oxford University coronavirus vaccine trial participant was most likely “life-threatening”, a bioethics researcher says. But that doesn’t mean the clinical trials will be scrapped. AstraZeneca and Oxford University [...]
COVID-19: Who should get a vaccine first?
There are currently a number of potential coronavirus vaccines being researched. But once a successful one has been developed, it is likely to be in short supply. So how do we decide who to allocate the [...]
Two types of steroid found to save lives of some Covid-19 patients
Analysis of seven trials finds dexamethasone and hydrocortisone should be given in severe cases. Studies around the world have confirmed that steroids can save lives in the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to new recommendations from [...]
Covid vaccine rush could make pandemic worse, say scientists
Experts say strong evidence of efficacy needed to avoid approval of inferior vaccines. The rush to immunise populations against Covid-19 could lead to the rollout of a vaccine that is not very effective and [...]
