Korean scientists developed technology NTS For large-format transparent OLED displays that can reduce their cost by a factor of 10 compared to existing solutions. The new technology is based on the use of titanium dioxide nanoparticles evenly distributed on an ultra-thin film.

Transparent OLED display technology has come a long way since the first prototypes emerged, but high manufacturing costs are preventing them from being widely adopted. According to New Atlas, a team from the Nanolithography and Manufacturing Research Center of the Korea Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Materials has introduced the NTS (Nano Transparent Display) technology that promises to change that.

NTS is based on the uniform distribution of titanium dioxide nanoparticles with a diameter of 100 nanometers over the entire surface of the film. According to the developers, this film is “as thin as a human hair” and an image is projected onto it using a high-resolution projector. This results in a high-quality image with a wide viewing angle of 170 degrees. An additional polymer film with liquid crystals can adjust the opacity of the background, improving the clarity of the image in bright lighting conditions.

Interestingly, NTS technology is not afraid of temperature extremes and aggressive weather conditions, which opens up wide application possibilities. For example, store windows, smart display cases, outdoor and indoor advertising are just a few of the possible application scenarios. Developers managed to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology in practice by installing a transparent screen in the Youth Mall in Konju (a city in South Korea).

Today, the cost of a typical 100-inch transparent OLED display exceeds $72,000, making it inaccessible to a wide range of consumers, and cheaper transparent LED displays have not gained popularity due to their very low resolution. NTS’s capabilities promise to solve this problem by offering mass production of displays at a price 10 times lower than OLED counterparts.

“Nanotransparent display manufacturing technology is an advanced, innovative technology created by combining nanomaterials and nanofabrication technology with existing IT technologies,” said project leader Jun-Ho Jeong. “Going forward, we will focus on research and development to continuously improve the quality of NTS, with the aim of becoming the first company to popularize transparent displays.”

The Nano Transparent Display promises flexibility and scalability, along with affordability. Developers claim that it will not be difficult to create transparent displays larger than 100 inches in the future. Work has already begun on commercializing the technology.