A novel glass surface has been developed for use in mobile devices that reduces both glare and reflection.
On a very fine scale, they roughened a glass surface so it could scatter light and ward off glare but without hurting the glass's transparency. Then the researchers etched nano-size teeth into the surface to make it anti-reflective. In addition to achieving both of these visual traits, the researchers showed the textured surface repelled water, mimicking a lotus leaf. Although the anti-glare roughening protects the nano-size glass teeth, further research is needed to ensure that the surface can withstand heavy touchscreen use, they say. They add that the method is inexpensive and can easily be scaled up for industry use.
Abstract of the paper for more details:
Hierarchical micro- and nanostructured surfaces have previously been made using a variety of materials and methods, including particle deposition, polymer molding, and the like. These surfaces have attracted a wide variety of interest for applications including reduced specular reflection and superhydrophobic surfaces. To the best of our knowledge, this paper reports the first monolithic, hierarchically structured glass surface that combines micro- and nanoscale surface features to simultaneously generate antiglare (AG), antireflection (AR), and superhydrophobic properties. The AG microstructure mechanically protects the AR nanostructure during wiping and smudging, while the uniform composition of the substrate and the micro- and nanostructured surface enables ion exchange through the surface, so that both the substrate and structured surface can be simultaneously chemically strengthened.
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The full article from techradar.com is here.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 18 2014, @08:44AM
It's nice that it repels water, but a more useful trait would be to repel finger prints.
(Score: 1) by pkrasimirov on Friday July 18 2014, @10:26AM
If they can make it to a transparent foil then it would be a success. Otherwise the tiny nano spikes would smooth out real quick (max a month or so) and then what -- throw away the screen? Teflon pans come to mind where you can see every scratch when doing the dishes.
(Score: 2) by iwoloschin on Friday July 18 2014, @12:33PM
Glass is pretty hard, so unless you're mashing two nano spike screens together, I imagine they'd be reasonably durable. I suspect your finger tips would start rubbing long before the nano spikes. Free benefit of constant exfoliation?
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Friday July 18 2014, @12:38PM
The spaces between the spikes would also start loading with skin cells and oils. I'm not sure what this would do to its reflectivity, but it wouldn't help the transparency much.
(Score: 2) by iwoloschin on Friday July 18 2014, @01:54PM
Depends how small the spikes are. If they're truly "nano" spikes, mere nanometers "big" then they're significantly smaller than a human skin cell. By at least a couple of orders of magnitude.
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cells/scale/ [utah.edu]
I mean...it might get clogged with viruses, but probably not skin cells. Of course, all bets are off if they're not truly nano spikes.
(Score: 2) by fishybell on Friday July 18 2014, @02:13PM
From the actual paper, they are about 100nm wide (skin cell being about ~30000nm), and the spikes are packed against valleys to the point where you could just as easily identify it as covered in valleys (about a 1:1 ratio spikes vs valleys). I'm fairly sure it would feel just as smooth if not more so due to the lower amount of surface area you'd be touching.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Friday July 18 2014, @10:28AM
Just put a screen protector on it!
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday July 18 2014, @08:20PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by paulej72 on Friday July 18 2014, @02:24PM
How long will it take for my skin oils to collect in the valleys and clog up the system giving no real anti-glare properties and making it harder to see the screen?
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