New conductive polymers from Heraeus reduce screen glare at displays

 

New conductive polymers from the Heraeus Clevios line reduce the sheet resistance on flexible and foldable touchscreens by more than 50%. This considerably improves conductivity and transmission for ultra-thin conductive display layers. Clevios HY E has thus become a key material for stably and reliably producing the next generation of foldable displays and smartphones. Heraeus (Hanau, Germany) has presented this innovation at C-Touch in Shenzhen, China, from 24 to 26November.

“Clevios HY E is an improved hybrid product made of silver nanowires and the conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS. More than 300 000 bends with a bending radius of 1mm can thereby withstand a 40 Ohm/sq conductive layer without damage,” says Dr Armin Sautter, head of technical services at Heraeus Emerging Business. At the trade show, the technology group presented a new foldable touch sensor based on Clevios HY E that can be used in AMOLED displays.

An additional Clevios innovation is reported to improve the optical properties of LCDs (liquid crystal displays): The polymer enables scratch resistant protective layers on display glass and reduces distracting glare by over 50% in comparison with previously used ITO layers (indium tin oxide). This increases the optical display contrast. Clevios has minimal inherent colour and higher transmission than ITO. It can furthermore be applied via an inexpensive wet coating process. “Layers produced with Clevios achieve higher optical transmission, greater clarity, and they are colourless. They are perfectly suited to be display layers since they are very stable not only mechanically but also in climate tests,” says Armin Sautter. The products cure quickly (within five minutes) and achieve up to 8H pencil hardness.

Another Heraeus highlight on display were printed capacitive touch sensors. In the future, it will be possible to mould switches and control elements into whatever shape is needed, not just the customary flat and two dimensional. This requires extremely flexible, transparent conductors. Clevios is suited for this purpose and can be used in form processes or IPF (high pressure forming) processes.

Caption: New conductive polymers from Heraeus were recently presented at C-Touch Shenzhen (photo: Heraeus)