Flat screen televisions that are bigger and better quality but lower in price could be the result of a breakthrough by a molecular scientist working for Headwaters NanoKinetix.

The firm says it has succeeded in developing a method of nanoparticle control that could potentially supersede existing techniques for creating the devices – namely liquid-crystal-display (LCD) and plasma Digital Light Processing (DLP).

Led by Dr Bing Zhou, a team working for NanoKinetix says that it has been able to manipulate highly conductive metallic material such as palladium, or platinum, using nanotechnology to add a coating to other substances to generate a light-emitting diode.

The technique enables scientists to mimic the properties of both LCD and DLP in terms of picture display, but also means longer-lasting and better quality screens without the imperfections of the other two methods.

In addition, the scale of the coating – potentially as thin as just one molecule – means that the screens are cost-effective.

Ultimately the company says it hopes Dr Zhou's nanomaterials can make flat-screens last "twice as long as today's plasma TVs, cost half as much, and, with organic light-emitting diodes, have none of the trace metals that can deteriorate picture quality over time".

The technology could even produce large-scale ultra-thin screens that could effectively be tailored to fit rooms and then rolled up for transportation or storage.



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