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Breakthrough may lead to disposable e-readers


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#1 Reno

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Posted 22 November 2010 - 07:10 PM


Where does e-paper fit into all of this. Will people want a paper display? Will we see newspapers similar to that seen in the harry potter movies? If so, will people rather still use paper over the equivalent technology available in tablets?

Personally, I believe this is a precursor to controlled hallucinations. In 20 years I wouldn't be surprised if cell phones, tablets, and displays of any sort are all rendered obsolete by some sort of optical implant. It wouldn't be that large of a change from what we have today. I pass people all the time using their bluetooth headset who look like they're talking to themselves. We've already isolated ourselves using technology. Why wouldn't be take the next step?


A breakthrough in a University of Cincinnati engineering lab that could clear the way for a low-cost, even disposable, e-reader is gaining considerable attention.

Electrical Engineering Professor Andrew Steckl's research into an affordable, yet high-performance, paper-based display technology is being featured this week as the November cover story of ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces ("Electrowetting on Paper for Electronic Paper Display"), one of the scientific journals for the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

In the research, Steckl and UC doctoral student Duk Young Kim demonstrated that paper could be used as a flexible host material for an electrowetting device. Electrowetting (EW) involves applying an electric field to colored droplets within a display in order to reveal content such as type, photographs and video. Steckl's discovery that paper could be used as the host material has far-reaching implications considering other popular e-readers on the market such as the Kindle and iPad rely on complex circuitry printed over a rigid glass substrate.

"One of the main goals of e-paper is to replicate the look and feel of actual ink on paper," the researchers stated in the ACS article. "We have, therefore, investigated the use of paper as the perfect substrate for EW devices to accomplish e-paper on paper."

Importantly, they found that the performance of the electrowetting device on paper is equivalent to that of glass, which is the gold standard in the field.

"It is pretty exciting," said Steckl. "With the right paper, the right process and the right device fabrication technique, you can get results that are as good as you would get on glass, and our results are good enough for a video-style e-reader."

Steckl imagines a future device that is rollable, feels like paper yet delivers books, news and even high-resolution color video in bright-light conditions.

"Nothing looks better than paper for reading," said Steckl, an Ohio Eminent Scholar. "We hope to have something that would actually look like paper but behave like a computer monitor in terms of its ability to store information. We would have something that is very cheap, very fast, full-color and at the end of the day or the end of the week, you could pitch it into the trash."

Disposing of a paper-based e-reader, Steckl points out, is also far simpler in terms of the environmental impact.

"In general, this is an elegant method for reducing device complexity and cost, resulting in one-time-use devices that can be totally disposed after use," the researchers pointed out.

Steckl's goal is attract commercial interest in the technology for next-stage development, which he expects will take three to five years to get to market.

The work was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation and was conducted at the Nanoelectronics Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science.


source

Edited by Reno, 22 November 2010 - 07:15 PM.


#2 valkyrie_ice

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Posted 22 November 2010 - 07:17 PM

In the research, Steckl and UC doctoral student Duk Young Kim demonstrated that paper could be used as a flexible host material for an electrowetting device. Electrowetting (EW) involves applying an electric field to colored droplets within a display in order to reveal content such as type, photographs and video. Steckl's discovery that paper could be used as the host material has far-reaching implications considering other popular e-readers on the market such as the Kindle and iPad rely on complex circuitry printed over a rigid glass substrate.

"One of the main goals of e-paper is to replicate the look and feel of actual ink on paper," the researchers stated in the ACS article. "We have, therefore, investigated the use of paper as the perfect substrate for EW devices to accomplish e-paper on paper."

Importantly, they found that the performance of the electrowetting device on paper is equivalent to that of glass, which is the gold standard in the field.

source


Predicted this would come when I first read about E-Ink way back when it was still a novelty research project back in the nineties. Sooner or later I knew they would figure out how to apply it to paper.


First, disposable e-readers. Next, Tony the Tiger will be beckoning you to buy him from the side of a cereal box. and Playboy centerfolds will be animated videos. (and you know playboy will do it too, since they are losing sales to internet porn)




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