Young boy interacting with holographic augmented reality display.
© Coneyl Jay / Gettyimages
Nanotechnology has occupied the pages of sci-fi novels for
decades, but now a major new breakthrough could bring the super advanced
tech into the average household.
Researchers
at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, have created two-dimensional
nanomaterials, only a few billionths of a meter thick, making it
possible to turn almost any surface into a screen or a computer.
Using
standard printing techniques, scientists combined graphene nanosheets,
an ultra-thin form of carbon just one atom thick, with two other
nanomaterials named tungsten diselenide and boron nitride.
The research published in the journal
Science could have wide-ranging implications from the mundane to the extraordinary.
Futuristic
uses could include a touchscreen pad superimposed onto your skin,
reading an electronic newspaper that could be rolled up or folded to be
placed neatly inside a jacket pocket or even receiving an alert message
saying the milk in the fridge is about to go sour.
The technology
could also enhance security capabilities of valuable items, allowing for
the encoding of biometric data on passports and the marking of
banknotes to make them virtually impossible to forge.
This
technology could also have advantages for solar power, one day making it
possible to turn a variety of materials into solar cells, making it
cheaper to harness energy from the sun, theoretically reducing our
collective dependence on oil and gas.
“In the future, printed devices will be incorporated into even the most mundane objects such as labels, posters and packaging,” senior author of the paper Jonathan Coleman, professor of chemical physics at Trinity College
said in a statement.
“Printed
electronic circuitry (constructed from the devices we have created)
will allow consumer products to gather, process, display and transmit
information: for example, milk cartons could send messages to your phone
warning that the milk is about to go out-of-date.”
“We
believe that 2D nanomaterials can compete with the materials currently
used for printed electronics. Compared to other materials employed in
this field, our 2D nanomaterials have the capability to yield more cost
effective and higher performance printed devices,” he added.