Researchers Proclaim Breakthrough in Full-Color Low-Power 'Electronic Paper' Displays

A team from the Chalmers University of Technology claims to have made a breakthrough in sunlight-readable full-color displays, developing an ePaper display capable of "brilliant colors" — at a very low power draw.

"For reflective screens to compete with the energy-intensive digital screens that we use today, images and colors must be reproduced with the same high quality. That will be the real breakthrough," explains Marika Gugole, doctoral student at the Chalmers University of Technology. "Our research now shows how the technology can be optimized, making it attractive for commercial use."

"Our main goal when developing these reflective screens, or 'electronic paper' as it is sometimes termed, is to find sustainable, energy-saving solutions," adds Andreas Dahlin, leader of the research team and professor at Chalmers' Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. "And in this case, energy consumption is almost zero because we simply use the ambient light of the surroundings."

The research builds on earlier work at the university on developing an ultra-thin flexible full-color reflective display, which was successful but at a suboptimal quality level. In the latest work, the team has taken the same core technology and inverted how it is built — boosting the color accuracy considerably.

The team's work relies on a porous and nanostructured material built with tungsten trioxide and gold alongside a thin platinum mirror, but should be within the reach of current production methods. "A large industrial player with the right technical competence could, in principle, start developing a product with the new technology within a couple of months," claims Dahlin.

The team's work is available under open-access terms in the journal Nano Letters.