One of the problems that owners of smartphones and tablets often have to deal with is the fragility of the material used to make their touch screens. If dropped or hit, the thin, fragile glass, which is also covered with a fragile transparent layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode, splits, which leads to the complete inoperability of the device and the need for quite costly repairs. But this may soon change dramatically, thanks to the work of researchers at the University of Akron. They have developed a polymeric transparent shock-resistant electrode that could replace the fragile glass electrode and make screens on smartphones and tablets virtually unbreakable.
The polymer transparent electrode created by the researchers has two opposing qualities at the same time. On the one hand, it has a high enough hardness that it can be used as the top layer of the touch screen structure, on the other hand, the polymer material is flexible, withstanding bends and strong enough point effects.
“These two qualities make our flexible and transparent film one of the most promising candidates to replace traditional ITO-coated electrodes,” says Yu Zhu, a researcher in polymer technology and materials at the University of Akron. “The new polymer material provides the same screen transparency as ITO, it has maintained its structure and performance after tests in which it was bent more than 1000 times at most. In addition, the new material is highly manufacturable; it is not difficult enough to establish production of polymer electrodes in industrial quantities measured in multi-kilometer rolls.”
“We expect that our polymer electrode will soon conquer the market of mass electronic devices,” asserts Yu Zhu, “And its use will once and for all get rid of the problem of fragility of smartphone and tablet computer screens.
