Networks of carbon nanotubes find use in flexible displays

Carbon nanotubes may very well kill you (okay, so that's very much a stretch), but you'll have a hard time convincing the dutiful scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to stop their promising research. Put simply (or as simply as possible), said researchers have discovered that "networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes printed onto bendable plastic perform well as semiconductors in integrated circuits." So well, in fact, that the nanotube networks could one day "replace organic semiconductors in applications such as flexible displays." Granted, there is still much to do before these networks are ready for product integration, but you can bet these folks aren't hitting the brakes after coming this far.

[who? @ Jul 25th 2008 12:59AM]

They keep talking about this stuff, but until my Pepsi can is able to play Forrest Gump I still think this is pretty useless stuff...

[Brian @ Jul 25th 2008 1:27AM]

Flexible displays!? Yes, I can see it now, all of the advertisment billboards will be so much clearer!

[Mike10010100 @ Jul 25th 2008 2:17AM]

Wow, is it just me, or is the internet being flooded by overly-obnoxious cynical comments tonight.

I think this is a marvelous advancement towards flexible displays. I would pay (very well) to own a swath of material that would display today's news or rss feeds.

[hiko36 @ Jul 25th 2008 2:38AM]

Paper thin watches, millimeter thin phones, windshield computers. Lots of possibilities from this.

[Twitchy @ Jul 25th 2008 4:22AM]

Pity that they'll be banned in the US - nano technology is evil, EVIL!!!

[doritotez @ Jul 25th 2008 2:45AM]

How about finally coming out with those carbon nanotube displays that were promised years ago and would outperform and undercut the price of plasma displays? I would be happy if we could get some actual products rather than samples for display that will "one day" make stuff better.

[bolezhinkov @ Jul 25th 2008 2:55AM]

yeah everyone is a comedian it seems. advice: don't quit your day jobs.

this is awesome. think about a display you could crumple up and stuff in your pocket when youre done using it. thats a little further away I suppose.

[Andrew @ Jul 25th 2008 5:40AM]

Kill you like those blood-borne explosives in The Diamond Age?

Anyways, the sooner Oakley comes out with sunglasses that have embedded video displays, the better.

[Mic2000 @ Jul 25th 2008 7:33AM]

So that makes this concept of Nokia much more reasonable:
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2008/02/NokiaMorph1.jpg

[GhostDoggy @ Jul 25th 2008 9:25AM]

Wasn't there a recent discussion that tubes based on nano might be harmful like asbestos?

[jparlett @ Jul 25th 2008 9:49AM]

Worse. Apparently carbon nanotubes can cross the blood-brain barrier, and tests in mice have confirmed this. Every technological revolution brings with it new diseases, and this will be no exception.

[ck @ Jul 25th 2008 11:25PM]

CNT!

Best. acronym. ever.