Better touch screens with silver, gold nanowires

By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 26 May 2010, 22:43 IST   |    5 Comments
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Better touch screens with silver, gold nanowires
Washington: Scientists from Stanford University has come up with plastic touch screen coated with silver and gold nanowires, which has more flexibility and durability than the glass touch screen, according to ANI. "Touch screen made from thin plastic coated with silver and gold could be produced more quickly than glass plates-up to 100 times faster," Discovery News quoted Yu Cui, Scientist at Stanford University and co-author of the paper, as saying. Even though the screens are made with silver and gold, they are still cheap, said Cui. The total amount of precious metals in each screen is so small that it doesn't significantly increase the price. His group managed to improve the electrical conductivity of the nanowires by fusing them together with tiny amounts of gold. The team is also trying to create longer, thinner silver nanowires, which will make the screen even more transparent and improve conduction of electricity through them. The thin metal mesh formed by the nanowires is flexible and sticks to a variety of materials. When applied to plastic, the material can be bent, flexed or dropped, and the screen won't crack and will still conduct an electrical charge. According to Cui, the silver nanowires could also be used as electrodes for solar cells that can turn light into electricity. The scientist has said that the new technique could be used 'immediately', unlike many technologies that have a significant lag time between development and application. The study has published in the journal ACS Nano.