Researchers from the United States have developed a new form of metal which is not only transparent but also electrically conductive.
Also, this would cost lower than five percent of the cost of displays sold these days.
The researchers discovered that the display market heavily relies on indium tin oxide (ITO) for the production of current displays.
The cost of ITO spiked from $200 per kilograms in 2004 to over $1,000 per kilograms in 2006.
Now it has dropped to around $750 per kilograms.
ITO contributes as much as 40 percent of the cost of a tablet or a smartphone.
As the cost of processors and memory chips fall, materials used to develop displays these days still prevent people from innovating.
Pennsylvania State University researchers have continued to work on something to replace indium tin oxide.
The researchers have been able to replicate electrical conductivity, manufacturing efficiency and optical transparency in a fresh type of material known as correlated metal.
The group has created a 10 namometre-thick films of correlated metal that are known for their distinct molecular structure.
Made from metals such as aluminum, copper, silver and gold, electrons flow in the manner a gas cloud does.
As they move about like liquid, the material is capable of changing state which depends on how it is used.
Engel-Herbert explained how this development would break ground: “We are trying to make metals transparent by changing the effective mass of their electrons. We are doing this by choosing materials in which the electrostatic interaction between negatively charged electrons is very large compared to their kinetic energy. As a result of this strong electron correlation effect, electrons ‘feel’ each other and behave like a liquid rather than a gas of non-interacting particles.”
The research team applied for a patent for this piece of technology.
The material can even be used to make cheaper solar cells in the time to come.
Source: ScienceAlert
