14 DAY TRIAL // Designing the ultimate coating for plasma and LCD TVs is not exactly easy, but the performance of the entire device thoroughly depends on the ultra-thin layer of material. The next generation of television sets may, however, be made out of something totally out of the ordinary, namely coffee. The idea has come to researchers after viewing the very thin layer of coffee that remain on a table after a person lifts the mug. Now, they are attempting to recreate the same kind of material to be used in electronics.
Singapore Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences scientist Ivan Vakarelski draws attention to the fact that, when someone spills some coffee on the table, the forces that act on the stain tend to drive the particles to the edge of the mark, thus creating the circular form for which these stains are renowned. Mostly because of evaporation and convection, the coffee particles engage in various movements that, in the end, reach the final shape. It's these forces that scientists plan to exploit, in order to come up with the next-gen, ultra-thin layer of matter for plasma and LCD screens.
Vakarelski and his team are now preparing to study the process extensively, so that they could come up with a method of replicating it in the lab, and thus hopefully be able to use it on other substances, which could be fit to form nano-scale conductive coating on the new screens. The task is not that easy, considering that the forces at work in a coffee stain are barely perceptible, and that they take a fairly long time to act. It goes without saying that the technology, if applied in electronic screens, needs to work a lot faster.
For its preliminary studies, the team used a suspension of gold particles, which it thought to best match the properties of coffee. The 20 nanometer-large lump was left to dry on a piece of glass, on which closely-packed latex microspheres had also been placed. These spheres are incredibly small, only 50 to 100 micrometers in diameter. By controlling temperatures and pressure, the team was able to establish the convection and evaporation forces at work in the mix, and managed to manipulate the chemicals so that the gold formed an intricate network of bridges and gaps at the base of the microspheres.
“Our gold network is finer than spider's silk and is also conductive,” Vakarelski says. He reckons that even ITO coatings could be outclassed by the new innovation, and that the electronic industry could soon be revolutionized by the new construction method. It remains to be seen whether the new way of doing things will work, and also if regular people will be able to afford it.