Scientists develop a cost-effective 100-inch transparent screen
A screen that can adjust its transparency according to the environment can be made at a tenth of the cost of a transparent OLED screen.
Image by KIMM
A screen that can adjust its transparency according to the environment can be made at a tenth of the cost of a transparent OLED screen.
Scientists at the Korean Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), along with private partners, have developed a 100-inch nano transparent screen (NTS).
The screen is composed of a film as thin as human hair and is made by evenly dispersing titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, the researchers say.
When light is emitted from the beam projector to the screen, an image can be viewed together with the scenery beyond the transparent screen. According to the researchers, a clear image can be seen from various angles.
The screen can be overlapped with a Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) and can adjust its transparency according to the environment.
The scientists say the transparency of the PDLC film can be lowered to produce clearer images when the brightness of the ambient light requires adjustment or when detailed images need to be projected.
The research team, led by Principal Researcher Jun-Ho Jeong of the Nano-lithography and Manufacturing Research Center of the KIMM, commercialized the screen with the company Meta2People.
Typically, manufacturing a 100-inch OLED screen would cost around 100 million Korean won (around $72,000), which is too expensive for general consumers to afford.
According to the researchers, the cost of NTSs is around 10% of that of OLED screens, thanks to the relatively simple manufacturing process.
"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 Jeong in a statement.
"Going forward, we will focus on research and development to continuously improve the quality of NTSs and lead the popularization of transparent screens."
The newly developed screen is expected to find applications across products, such as transparent displays in department stores and supermarkets, smart windows for buildings, and versatile transparent displays suitable for both indoor and outdoor promotional uses.