When materials scientists meet octopus: The new flexible display called desire

Nature Newsletter reports a method that is inspired by the skin of a foot animal to control patterns on a flexible display.

such as the octopus, squid and other foot-like animals, in their skin has been called "carrying color" of the pigment-containing cells. They can change skin color by shrinking and expanding the muscles and allowing different amounts of light to escape from these cells, allowing them to switch quickly between different patterns.

Xuanhe Zhao, a material scientist from Duke University and MIT, and his colleagues reproduced the effect on the polymer surface by using an electric field to control the tension in a polymer. The dye embedded in the polymer reacts to this tension, allowing previously determined patterns to be displayed. They found that the resulting patterns (such as letters and shapes) could be displayed and erased countless times.

At present their display can display a pattern with a characteristic scale of 100 microns. It is also the first generation of flexible screens made using the principle of mechanization.

These flexible displays may be a future alternative to traditional flat-panel displays.