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Imagine yourself sitting in the sun and reading a digital screen as thin as paper but with the same quality image quality as indoors. It could soon become a reality thanks to Chalmers University of Technology research in Sweden. The new reflective screen, sometimes called “electronic paper,” offers the best color display while using ambient light to reduce energy consumption.
A backlight illuminates digital screens. While this is great indoors, we have all seen the problems of seeing such screens in bright sunlight. However, reflective screens mimic natural paper’s response to ambient light and attempt to use that light.
Images and colors must be reproduced at the same quality to allow reflective screens to compete against the high-energy digital screens we use today. This will be the true breakthrough. “Our research shows that the technology can be optimized to make it more attractive for commercial use,” said Marika Gugole (Doctoral Student in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology).
Researchers had previously developed a flexible, ultra-thin material reproduces every color an LED screen can display. It consumes only a tenth of the energy of a standard tablet. The earlier design could have produced better-quality colors. The new study published in Nano Letters goes one step further. They used a previously studied, porous, nanostructured material containing tungsten, Trioxide, Gold, and Platinum. Then they attempted a new technique: inverting the design so that the colors appear more accurately on the screen.
For the best quality color, invert the design.
This is a significant step forward in the design. The component that makes the material electrically conductive is placed underneath the pixelated structure that reproduces the colors instead of above it. The new design lets you see the pixelated surface directly, thus allowing for more clarity in the colors.
Reflective screens offer other benefits aside from low energy consumption. Reflective screens have other advantages, such as being more comfortable than traditional screens. Researchers hope it is possible to reduce the production quantities.
We are developing sustainable and energy-saving solutions for these reflective screens. “In this case, the energy consumption is nearly zero since we only use the surrounding ambient lighting,” says Andreas Dahlin (research leader at Chalmers’ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering).
It is versatile and can be used for a variety of purposes.
Some tablets have reflective screens, but only the black and white colors are displayed well.
Andreas Dahlin says that a large industrial company with technical expertise could develop a product using the new technology in a matter of weeks. He also envisions many other applications. It could be used for outdoor advertising and smartphones and tablets. This will allow for energy and resource savings and a reduction in the cost of printing posters and moving digital screens.
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