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Tony Stark's Transparent Phone Possible With Graphene?

Readers may recall that Tony Stark's transparent smartphone in the recent film Ironman 2 looked pretty slick. And of course it's connected to the rest of the artifacts in his life; he can control his TV, lock his house and present evidence in court.

Will we ever see a super-thin, tough and transparent smartphone? Scientists think so - by using graphene as their conductive element.


(Tony Stark's transparent smartphone)

Today, most cells phones and tablet PCs have touch screens that allow the user to make selections by touching icons or letters directly on the display screen.

The basic idea of how most of these devices work is simple. A layer that stores electrical charge is placed on the glass panel of the screen. When a user touches the screen with his or her finger, or with a stylus pen, some of the charge is transferred to the user, so the charge on the layer decreases. This decrease is measured by sensors located at each corner of the screen, and this information is relayed to a processor inside the device, which determines what kind of action to take...

Touch screens made with graphene as their conductive element could be printed on thin plastic instead of glass, so they would be light and flexible, which could make cell phones as thin as a piece of paper and foldable enough to slip into a pocket. Also, because of graphene’s incredible strength, these cell phones would be nearly unbreakable. Scientists expect that this type of touch screen will be the first graphene product to appear in the marketplace.

Fans of HG Wells might also recall the transparent displays from his 1936 film Things to Come.

I'd also like to point out that I've turned comments back on and the contact form is also open.

Via Forbes and ACS Portal.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/16/2012)

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