Researchers look to coffee stains for improved TV screen coating
By Donald Melanson 
posted March 2nd 2009 6:03AM
posted March 2nd 2009 6:03AM
While there's plenty of discoveries that no doubt wouldn't have been possible without coffee, few have been as directly influenced as this latest fit of inspiration from Ivan Vakarelski of the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences in Singapore, who apparently saw the future of TV screens in a coffee stain. More specifically, he was intrigued by the way a coffee spill dried into a circular stain, which, as New Scientist notes, is effectively caused by coffee granules being "assembled" by the varying evaporation and convection rates in the fluid. That process, Vakarelski thought, could be replicated artificially to create a better coating for LCD and plasma screens, and he and his colleagues were ultimately able to do just that with a suspension of gold particles that were left to dry on a glass plate covered with closely packed latex microspheres. According to Vakarelski, the resulting network of gold nanoparticles is "finer than spider's silk," and potentially even more conductive than the ITO coatings commonly used today. Of course, it's still a long ways from actually be used on LCDs, although the researchers have already created coatings a few square centimeters in size, and say they plan to increase that "tenfold" as soon as possible.
[Via New Scientist]
[Via New Scientist]
Pretty soon they'll be looking at using this coating for other means of protecting electronic equipment. So next time when you are at the office and you spill coffee on your keyboard, just tell your boss "I did it in the name of science!".
"Why are you just drinking coffee all day?"
"I'm doing some very complex scientific studying"
"...he was intrigued by the way a coffee spill dried into a circular stain"
I just thought it was the shape of the coffee mug.
^^ That's very unscientific of you. What are you, some right-wing Jesus freak?
I don't think he was amazed by "OHHH, why it's a circular shaped stain" but he wondered "Ohhh, circular shaped, eh? Maybe it can be usefull".
I want my HDTV Decaf, please.
Don't all liquids dry in circles? Is this new to scientists? Will he invent a new kind of explosive or acid dropping containers as he seems to be in the habit of doing? Stay tuned
that depends on the surface tension and how do you spill it.
Sometimes we ignore the simple things. And, most of the time, the simple things are the answer for complex problems.
I just spilled my coffee all over myself as I do most mornings. Me > this guy. Grant money, please!
Only if you're a LCD.
Dammit, he's Plasma!
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/DES/D1425~Drink-Coffee-Posters.jpg
This sure is a good use of this property but Ivan was by far not the first one to discover the effect:
https://mrsec.uchicago.edu/research/nuggets/coffee/stories.html
Really, this is why we should invest in Science. How much flack from the "Why are we spending $100,000 to study coffee stains" people did this guy, and his predecessors, have to wade through. All knowledge is good knowledge. And should be invested in because we never know where the next big thing will come from.
JAVA?
I certainly hope it's not reflective.
I'll take a 46" Triple Grande Vanilla Soy Latte
"there are plenty..." Engadget needs to learn English.
and you need a woman.
We'll be able to buy an overpriced Starbucks-branded HDTV now. It'll run programs at double speed for the hyper-caffeinated.
"closely packed latex microspheres"
Sounds like a future Trojan advertisement...