i3 - January/February 2016 - 32

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016

l FLEXIBILITY l Whatever the application,
silver nanowires offer significant flexibility (the
next trend in consumer product design), not
only for wearables but also for thin, light solar
panels that can wrap around buildings. Building spaces previously unusable for photovoltaic
arrays can now be employed, radically improving buildings' capacity for meeting ever-morestringent energy efficiency mandates.
In real-world tests, silver nanowire coated
films withstand greater than 450,000 repeated
turns around a 1mm bending radius, demonstrating a great fit in flexible, rollable electronic
products. Traditional materials do not flex.
Displays no longer have to be flat or rigid.
Curved and flexible are in. Most touchscreens
also require high-quality transparent conductors to provide a rich user experience. These
features will make today's tablet computers
appear as dated as desktops and help push
portable computing into new market niches
and price points. Kiosks, gaming machines,
point-of-sale devices, automobile displays
and GPS systems are key categories ripe for
adoption.
l SILVER IS GLOBALLY AVAILABLE l It's
not a rare commodity or traditional as exotic
materials.
l MASS PRODUCTION-READY l Carbon
nanotubes/buds, graphene and other competing
materials are still in early stages and not ready
for mass production in price sensitive applications. Millions of CE devices using silver nanowires have already been shipped.
l THINNER/LIGHTER l Silver nanowires
lend themselves well to flexible/thin substrates.
This enables sleek devices. Slim industrial
design is what consumers are seeking.
l GREAT VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS l
The most advanced silver nanowire touchscreen
products have less haze than any competitor.
This enhances the user experience and allows
premium products using silver nanowire

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With a flexible,
bendable OLED
lighting system using
silver nanowires,
three-dimensional
lighting systems
produce color-tunable
light on any surface.

touchscreen stack-so less manufacturing complexity and materials consumed. The manufacturing itself uses room-temperature processing,
equating to less power, requiring no consumables and no waste disposal issues. It's a greener
way of making things.

technology to command tier one design status
and product differentiation.
l OLED LIGHTING ADOPTION l Applications in organic light-emitting diodes (OLED),
whether on a car's dashboard or in the next CE
device, can provide lighting that conforms to
a curved surface. Since OLED lighting is area
lighting (meaning that there is no point or line
source for the light, but the light emits through
the surface of the light panel) it's uniform and
more aesthetically pleasing. These attributes are
valuable in high-end electronic devices, home
theaters, museums, hotel lobbies, retail store
displays or auto instrument panels. OLEDs
create a new take on the classic five-dial instrument cluster in the Porsche's recently shown
Mission E electric sedan concept car. How's that
for a high-end consumer product?
With a flexible, bendable OLED lighting system using silver nanowires, three-dimensional
lighting systems produce color-tunable light on
any surface.
l MARKET TRACTION EXISTS l Silver
nanowires in touchscreens, solar cells and
OLED lighting products are in production. It's
not a matter of if it will be used; it's already
being adopted across the globe by dozens of
companies.
l EASIER TO MAKE l Because of its lower
complexity, companies manufacturing with
silver nanowire include Okura, Hitachi, LG,
3M, Shinwa, Samsung, TPK, UDI, Touchworks,
CNI with end customers including Lenovo,
Karbonn, NEC, Advan, DELL, HP and Toshiba.

For high volume consumer and industrial
applications, including large-area touchscreens,
as well as miniature, flexible wearable displays,
OLED lighting and PV solar panels, silver
nanowires offer significant advantages both in
cost and performance. Roll-to-roll processed
silver nanowire transparent conductors are the
clear choice for new production facilities needing
high throughput and easy processing. They're
also on target for CE OEMs needing a thin, light,
bright, flexible material delivering high performance for their next killer products.
Sri Peruvemba is a vice president at Cambrios
Technologies Corp. Cambrios provides innovative solutions using nanotechnology.
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

http://www.cambrios.com/

i3 - January/February 2016

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