New display technology combines record brightness with pixels that stretch like rubber
A research team led by Professor Jiwoong Yang of the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at DGIST has developed the world's first foundational technology for an ultrahigh-resolution stretchable quantum dot display (QLED) that can stretch freely like skin while maintaining sharp image quality. The findings were published in Nature Nanotechnology.
Scientists from the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), UNIST and the Institute for Basic Science have developed a new foundational technology for ultra-high-resolution stretchable quantum dot displays. This stretchable QLED technology can maintain sharp image quality even when stretched like skin, a significant improvement over conventional displays that lose image quality as they are stretched.
Conventional stretchable displays only stretch the wires connecting light-emitting regions, resulting in a decrease in light-emitting area and reduced image quality. The new technology, called LIFT (Lithography-Inktransfer-Printing), bonds quantum dots with an elastic polymer and transfers fine patterns onto a surface, enabling precise creation of high-resolution pixels.
This breakthrough addresses the challenges of patterning soft, rubber-like stretchable light-emitting layers into fine pixels and improving color reproduction and brightness. The newly developed device achieved a pixel density of up to 16,000 pixels per inch and produced high-quality multicolor pixels using stretchable red, green and blue (RGB) light-emitting layers.
The device's maximum brightness reached 53,300 nits, far surpassing the previous limit of 15,000 nits for stretchable light-emitting devices. The device also demonstrated stable operation and image quality even when stretched to approximately 65% beyond its original length. This research is significant as it simultaneously achieved fine pixel fabrication, improved light-emitting performance, and maintained stretchability by controlling surfaces and interfaces while using quantum dot composites.
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