Touch panel - Page 3

Researchers at the University of Sussex in England have found that a hybrid material consisting of silver nanowires that are linked together with graphene could be a strong contender in the battle to replace indium tin oxide as the transparent conductor in touch screen displays.

This material is said to be much cheaper to use since only a small amount of it is necessary in order to attain the properties of ITO. The graphene, according to the team, acts as a linker between the nanowires, which means that the network does not need to be dense. The graphene is deposited onto a sprayed network of nanowires by film deposition.

We're happy to announce a new market report, Graphene for the Display and Lighting industries. This report, brought to you by the world's leading Graphene and OLED experts, is a comprehensive guide to the applications of graphene in these two important markets. Graphene is an exciting material that promises to revolutionize entire industries - and it has a bright future in the display and lighting industries.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• Graphene applications in LED and OLED lighting
• Graphene's adoption as a backplane for AMOLEDs
• Transparent graphene electrodes
• Graphene-based encapsulation development

Other topics include:

• Graphene companies involved with display and lighting
• An introduction to graphene
• An introduction to lighting and displays
• Details about graphene for QDs, lasers and thermal foils

Earlier this month, the first mass produced graphene-enhanced phone was rumoured to be near commercial sale by Chinese companies. Now, further details are available as it seems that the device is available on the company's website.

The phone, called the Galapad Settler, is said to use graphene for its touchscreen, as well as casing and battery. 30,000 pieces were made by Chinese graphene company Moxi together with Chinese device maker Galapad, with each device selling for $399 USD.

A website named Getinews reported The first mass produced graphene-enhanced phone. It is supposedly intended for a 30,000 piece production, and will contain graphene smartphone touch screen, battery and thermal films. The phone's core technology is provided by the Chongqing Institute of Technology and the Chinese Academy of green intelligent Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering.

According to reports, the graphene phone has a better touch performance and longer standby time and better thermal performance. While graphene-enhanced touchscreens are not unheard of, graphene batteries a little more of a stretch so it should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt.

Thomas Swan, the privately held global chemical manufacturing company, recently announced that it has received four places in the Innovative UK program (formerly the Technology Strategy Board) for identification and optimization of applications in which graphene can be integrated to add substantial value.

The lead participants in this program are Sharp Laboratories of Europe (energy storage), Smith & Nephew Extruded Films (separations), M-SOLV (touch panels) and Nano Products (printed electronics). The projects will also collaborate with leading UK experts at the University of Manchester, the University of Bradford, the University of Surrey and Nottingham Trent University. 

Researchers discovered that lithium-doped graphene sheets (3-60 layers in thickness) result in the highest ever sheet resistance and transmittance ever reported for continuous thin-films. This may prove to be an important step towards an ITO replacement for touch panels and solar cells.

The lithium was inserted between the graphene layers. As a result of this electrochemical intercalation, the Fermi level is upshifted by the doping effect, resulting in a more transparent and conductive material.

The Ningbo government in China decided to help build the local graphene industry as part of its strategic industry plans. The government will launch several graphene projects as part of its "medium and long-term plan for the technological innovation and industrial development of the graphene industry (2014 2023) in Ningbo" plan.

Ningo government will help support three stages of the graphene market - raw materials, graphene composite materials and equipment and final products.

Update: It turns out that Konstantin Novoselov did not join the new research institute, he just visited to give a lecture...

In 2013, Shanghai-based Powerbooster Technology developed a graphene-based flexible touch-panels for mobile devices, with ambitious plans to mass produce those panels. The graphene supplier for powerbooster is Bluestone Global Tech (BGT).

Now it is reported that BGT, Power Booster and Xiamen University established the Graphene Industrial Technology Research Institute in Xiamen. The will mainly develop the applications of graphene in batteries, touch screens, cancer treatment, LED lamps, sea water desalination and more.

Researchers from Rice University developed a method to create a hybrid graphene-nanotube material that promises to have a better electrical and mechanical qualities than both materials. They call this new material "rebar graphene" because it resembles the way a rebar is used in concrete.

The researchers say that the resulting material contains large, flexible and conductive transparent sheets of graphene that are much easier to manipulate than pure graphene. A few layers of this new material could prove to be a cost-effective ITO alternative for displays and solar cells.

In July we reported that China's Ningbo Morsh Technology is establishing a new graphene production line that will have an annual capacity of 300 tons (or tens of millions of graphene films). The line was supposed to be operational by August 2013, and now there are reports from china that finally production began.

The report further says that China plans to build a state-level graphene industrialization base in China's Chongqing Municipality. Within 5 years, they hope to reach revenues of 100 billion yuan ($16.35 billion). If the capacity is indeed 300 tons per year, than China is now the world's leading graphene producer by far.