Philips and LG Working on Oil and Water-Based Flexible OLED Displays
 | |||||
Do you like this story?
It doesn’t get much higher tech than oil and water, right? Well, whatever the case, Philips and LG are collaborating on a project that would see OLED displays that are composed primarily of oil and water. Unlike traditional flexible OLED displays that mount the organic light-emitting diodes on a flexible plastic substrate, this new version places little plastic cells (filled with oil and water) on a flexible plastic substrate, connecting them all to a series of plastic electrodes.
According to New Scientist, “the oil, which is opaque, floats on the water and obscures a coloured surface beneath. But applying an electric field forces the oil away from the water, revealing the coloured layer beneath and changing the colour of the pixel.” This manufacturing of this type of display is not only supposed to be cheaper, but also more efficient (fewer steps) and “cooler” (requiring lower temperatures).
Naturally, one of the biggest snags to an OLED display such as this is the refresh rate. This is an issue that has been plaguing flexible displays since the beginning, but can you imagine being able to roll out a huge sheet of flexible screen. Minority Report, here we come.
comment closed