Flexible touch screen made from silver and graphene

Scientists at the University of Sussex have developed a cheap and flexible touchscreen made from silver and graphene. In contrast to previously used materials, the new development is much stronger. The study is published in the American Chemical Society journal Langmuir.

“Today’s smartphone screens are very fragile because the touch sensor is made of indium tin oxide. This material is quite brittle, so it must be applied to a hard surface such as glass. The glass layer often cracks. Our latest development does not require a hard glass surface, ”said study author Matthew Black.

Scientists have found that combining graphene – a material made from a single layer of carbon atoms – with silver nanowires creates a flexible semiconductor coating. This flexible material does not require a protective glass.

Despite the fact that silver is a rare and expensive metal, very little is required. The main “ingredient” of the coating is graphene, the cost of which, according to the researchers, is falling. The addition of graphene to a silver nanowire increases the material’s ability to conduct electricity by about tenfold.

“The results of the study will help develop fully flexible smartphones and other devices,” Black concluded

. Source: indicator.ru