Paper Thin, Foldable Monitors
Organic light being used to change images and text with paper-thin technology is coming on us fast. Ever dream of changing the wallpaper in your house on a whim to any color or pattern? What about having one piece of paper that constantly updates to any book or newspaper with the convenience of being able to fold it up and put it in your pocket?
Organic light-emitting diode’s (OLED) are made by organic compounds being trapped between a plastic polymer. The flat rows and columns are placed on a flat surface by a “printing” process. The results are a matrix of pixels that can turn diffrent colors on a very thin material that uses significantly less power than other light sources.
OLED’s have been around for a while. In fact, you can buy a Sony TV that was released in 2007 made up of the technology. To give you an idea of price point, the 11′ version goes for $1,700. The big headline isn’t that the technology exists, it’s how its being formatted and how that format will be of interest to your daily life.
GE recently unveiled the first demonstration of “roll-to-roll” processed OLEDs. Manufactured in this way, they could be made for a very low cost and are so thin they can be used as newspaper or even wall paper.
After four years the GE Research Team has a working prototype that they are eager to place on the production line. They affirm that there is a lot of work ahead, but the goal is to get us all grooving and shaking with paper thin devices as soon as is possible.
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Eliaja said
am March 14 2008 @ 5:08 am
Could this stuff be used as clothing? The possibilities could be endless. Imagine being able to turn just about anything you interact with into a TV screen. So cool.
Jerad Kaliher said
am March 14 2008 @ 5:10 am
@Eliaja, I never thought about it but I’m sure they could be adapted for clothing. I’m not too sure about how cool that would be. Especially if you ever ‘went to commercial.’ The idea of having screens everywhere is great, as long as you dictate what’s on them and it isn’t just another means for advertising taking up even more space.
Jay said
am March 18 2008 @ 7:20 pm
Good point. Who needs more advertising? The flip side is that those of us more creative could make interesting designs on hats, for instance, or download them. It could be like a myspace page on your chest, for better or worse.
~J
Jason said
am March 22 2008 @ 12:06 pm
This breakthrough is very exciting to me. I do research in a closely related field: organic photovoltaics. The devices are physically very similar, so the mass-production technologies that can be applied to OLEDs can easily translate to OPVs.
Imagine wearing a jacket heated by solar cells. Suddenly Minnesota winters become a lot more bearable.
Jerad Kaliher said
am March 23 2008 @ 7:15 pm
@Jason, sounds like interesting work. I’ve always secretly wished that I could be on the ground floor of one of these breakthroughs. I have a feeling I’ll be stuck on the sidelines just talking about them for a bit longer.
Timps said
am April 7 2008 @ 2:59 am
Nice find.
I’ve been excited about this since the first time I saw a demonstration. I love the concept that it requires no power to maintain the image, only to update.
Even if it takes minutes to update, this will instantly sell worldwide. Change your wallpaper or a hanging picture on the wall.
Jerad Kaliher said
am April 7 2008 @ 12:53 pm
@Timps, yeah it really is pretty revolutionary. And as you say, even with a very slow refresh rate it would still prove to be immensely valuable. Now we just have to wait until it gets mass produced.
someone said
am April 23 2008 @ 6:20 am
how soon whould this be available to the public @ a reasonable price? say in computer monitors? so they could be rolled or even folded up for portability?
Some Duder said
am April 14 2009 @ 6:54 pm
Huh, so this stuff really does exist. (Forgive me, I live on the outskirts of a backwater town.) I’ve heard about it but only recently decided to check it out. Makes you wonder how long it’ll take to get the refresh rate going at normal speeds. As fast as humanity is coming out with new technology, I give it about… 5-10 years for large screens that can run at 75 Hertz refresh rate. Hell, by then we might have prototype holographic technology out, if we don’t already. And why not? We already have virtual reality (somewhat) and it’s improving quickly.