新型顯示屏薄如紙張 可隨意彎曲

最近有科學家正在研發一種全新的“電子紙”技術，這種“電子紙”其實就是一種超薄的柔性顯示屏，具有很高的能效性，並且在陽光直射或明亮環境中也可以清晰地顯示出內容。這種柔性顯示屏的厚度只有不到1微米，所需能量僅爲Kindle的十分之一。

Researchers have developed electronic ‘paper’ that is less than a micrometre thin and works like a Kindle tablet – but requires far less energy.
研發人員已研製出電子“紙片”，厚度不足一微米，功能可與Kindle平板相當，不過其能耗更低。

The bendable display reflects light to produce as many colours as an LED screen, and unlike the latter, it thrives in brightly lit areas.
可彎曲的顯示屏在光的反射下產生如同LED顯示屏一樣五彩斑斕的顏色，但與後者不同，這種顯示屏只有在光線明亮的區域纔會產生色彩。

The team has so far built and tested a few pixels of the material, and while it’s not yet ready for application, they say manufacturing a product with the display is likely soon to come.
迄今爲止，研發團隊已經制作並測試了材料的多種像素，雖然目前還不適合應用，但他們表示其產品的大規模生產將很快成爲現實。

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology stumbled upon the combination to create the electronic display while working on placing conductive polymers on nanostructures.
查爾姆斯理工大學研究人員在將導電聚合物放置在納米結構上時，偶然發現二者結合可製造出電子顯示屏。

The thin, flexible material relies on the polymers’ ability to control how light is absorbed and reflected.
這種輕薄、靈活可彎曲的“顯示屏”主要取決於該聚合物控制光線吸收和反射的能力。

These polymers cover the surface of the material, and guide electric signals throughout the full display to create high resolution images.
這些聚合物覆蓋在材料表面，引導電信號在整個顯示屏進行傳輸，從而產生高分辨率圖像。

The results are described in a paper published to the journal Advanced Materials.
該研究成果的論文刊登在《新材料》雜誌上。

‘The “paper” is similar to the Kindle tablet,’ says Andreas Dahlin.
安德里亞斯•達林說，“這張電子‘紙片’和Kindle平板差不多。”

‘It isn’t lit up like a standard display, but rather reflects the external light which illuminates it. Therefore it works very well where there is bright light, such as out in the sun, in contrast to standard LED displays that work best in darkness.
“它並不像標準顯示屏一樣被點亮，只能通過外部光線反射才能發光。因此，它在光線明亮時工作很好，比如太陽光下，而標準LED顯示屏則在黑暗中工作最佳。”

‘At the same time it needs only a tenth of the energy that a Kindle tablet uses, which itself uses much less energy than a tablet LED display.’
“同時，它所需能量僅爲Kindle平板電腦的十分之一，其本身能耗也比平板LED顯示屏要少得多。”

According to the researchers, the samples they've so far built and tested use the same red, green, and blue colours which combine to give LEDs their vibrant displays.
研發人員表示，他們目前研製並測試的樣本使用紅色、綠色和藍色，這也是組合出LED能顯示的所有鮮豔色彩的三種顏色。

Moving forward, they will build pixels to cover much larger areas.
接下來，他們將構建更多的像素來覆蓋更大的區域。

‘We are working at a fundamental level but even so, the step to manufacturing a product out of it shouldn’t be too far away,’ Dahlin says.
達林說：“我們的研究還處於基礎層面，但即使這樣，距離生產該類產品也不遠了。”

‘What we need now are engineers.’
“我們目前需要的是工程師。”

This type of material could be used outside for public displays, the researcher says, helping to reduce energy consumption and upgrade signs and information screens to be both electric and flexible.
研發人員說，這種類型的材料可以應用在室外的公共顯示屏上，既能減少能耗，又能將指示屏和信息屏升級成電子化且可彎曲的顯示屏。

The researchers are working to improve their design, which currently uses gold and silver, and would thus be expensive to manufacture.
研發人員還在優化設計，因爲目前顯示器使用的是金和銀，生產成本太高。

‘The gold surface is 20 nanometres thick so there is not that much gold in it,’ says Dahlin.
達林說：“金製表面的厚度爲20毫微米，因此製造這樣一個產品並不需要特別多的黃金。”

‘But at present there is a lot of gold wasted in manufacturing it. Either we reduce the waste or we find another way to decrease the manufacturing cost.’
“但在目前的製造過程中，很多黃金被浪費。所以我們要麼減少浪費，要麼尋找另外一種方式來降低生產成本。”