14 DAY TRIAL // Flexible and unbreakable mobile devices like smartphones and tablets might be headed our way, sooner than expected.
A new research published in the Nature Asia Material journal by a team of scientists from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University have come up with an innovative method to transfer mobile electronic made of rigid silicon or other similar material onto a flexible surface.
Touch-enabled devices like tablets will be able to keep their sensitivity intact as well as to produce energy, due the thin transparent nanolayers of oxide materials.
So far scientists weren't able to use oxide materials as such, because they had to be handled at extremely high temperatures.
But the new discovered technique has solved this riddle. PhD research Philipp Gutruf in charge of the research explained that they “have discovered a micro-tectonic effect, where microscale plates of oxide materials slide over each other, like geological plates, to relieve stress and retain electrical conductivity.”
“The novel method we have the developed overcomes the challenges of incorporating oxide materials in bendable electronic devices, paving the way for bendable consumer electronics and other exciting applications.”
The method outlined in the article uses two particular materials to achieve the impossible – transparent conductive indium tin oxide and rubber-like silicon.
If successful, the method might be used to create consumer mobile devices which can be bent or rolled at will, without experiencing any damage.