The Screens of The Future Can React to Your Pulse and Recharge Themselves

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While today’s touch screens are just displays with an array of sensors on top, this new innovation could bring the next generation of touch screens that work on their own, without any additional sensors. Scientists from Linköping University in Sweden developed the next generation of LED digital displays that can react to the touch, fingerprint, and even the pulse of the user. While still in the prototype stage, this technology could revolutionize personal electronic devices.

We all interact with touch screens on a daily basis, but those organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens are just displays that can only show information – making the display also function as a touch interface requires innovative engineering, like the fingerprint sensor cleverly hidden within our smartphone screens. With the recent work published by the researchers, soon the display could potentially do the sensor’s work and render these engineering efforts a thing of the past.

According to Interesting Engineering, the researchers made their innovative displays with a crystal-like material called halide perovskite. For a screen to display all colors, it must have three color LEDs: red, blue, and green, which can display thousands of colors when combined in various intensities. The researchers managed to develop perovskites-based LED screens in all three colors that look extremely similar to the ones that are currently being used.

Another major advantage to this innovation is that it can double as a charger – the semiconductor used to develop the next generation photovoltaic cells is also used in the display and thus can charge the device it is used in. Chunxiong Bao, associate professor who worked on the display explained: “Your smartwatch screen is off most of the time. During the off-time of the screen, instead of displaying information, it can harvest light to charge your watch, significantly extending how long you can go between charges.”

However, there is a major issue with this innovation that has yet to be solved – The screen only works for a few hours before the material becomes unstable and the LEDs stop working, a problem similar to that of the perovskite solar cells. The research team claims they estimate the problems with perovskite displays will be solved within a decade, and this new technology will become mainstream in the market.