Sussex physicists develop new touchscreen technology

Sussex physicists develop new touchscreen technology. Physicists at the University of Sussex are at an advanced stage of developing alternative touchscreen technology to overcome the shortfall in the traditional display, phone and tablet material that relies on electrodes made from indium tin oxide (ITO). They have now shown that not only is the material suitable for touchscreens, but that it iss possible to produce extremely small patterns (pixels), small enough for high definition LCD displays, such as smartphones and the next generation of television and computer screens. The study, led by Sussex Professor of Experimental Physics Alan Dalton, investigates some of the intricacies of patterning silver nanowire films to produce detailed electrode structures. The paper, Finite-size scaling in silver nanowire films: design considerations for practical devices , is published in the journal Nanoscale. Previous research by Professor Dalton's group has shown that silver nanowires not only match the transmittances and conductivities of ITO films but exceed them. This makes the material very attractive for touch screens.