With the advent of the 5G era, users have more and more diverse demands for screens, and flexible screens such as folding screens, curved screens, and large screens have been noticed by more and more manufacturers. According to the statistics of the consulting company DSCC, 83% of the 5G mobile phones released on the market now use OLED screens. Flexible OLED screens and foldable mobile phones have become the 5G flagship models of leading manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei.
According to IHS forecast data from research institutes, the share of production capacity of flexible screens in display equipment continues to increase. In 2018, the share of global production capacity of flexible screens will reach 27%, and it is expected to reach 46% in 2022. In 2020, global shipments of flexible screens will increase to 792 million yuan, and operating income will increase to 41.3 billion US dollars.
At present, the main factor restricting the development of flexible screens is technology. The "handle" ITO of touch screen materials cannot be used for flexible applications. Therefore, many manufacturers have to seek alternatives.
Recently, Hay Think learned about a supplier specializing in the research, development, production and providing solutions of conductive film nanomaterials for touch screens-NBKT Optoelectronic Material Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in 2013, its main product is nano silver wire The conductive film is a nano-silver wire ink material smeared on a plastic or glass substrate, and then using laser lithography to create a transparent conductive film with a nano-level silver wire conductive network pattern.
Compared with the traditional ITO conductive film, the nano silver wire transparent electric film performs better in terms of conductivity, light transmission, flexibility, wear resistance, etc. It is more suitable for large-size touch screens and folding screens, which can meet mobile terminals, For the needs of wearable devices, car equipment, education, medical care and smart home products, the aforementioned Huawei Mate X uses nano silver wire conductive film.
Nano silver wire may replace ITO as the core technology of OLED.
In 2018, TPK and Cambrios cooperated with BOE to provide 65, 75, and 86-inch interactive whiteboard nano silver touch solutions. The success of large-size touch screens has enabled Nano Silver to gain a lot of recognition and support for a time. The person in charge of TPK said that TPK has mastered 83% of the patents of nano-silver touch technology and has a strong monopoly of nano-silver patented technology in the industry. In addition to TPK, there are many manufacturers in China that are engaged in the research and development of large-scale nano-silver screens. Companies such as NF Nano, HKZC, HFWJ Hefei Microcrystalline, etc. have all obtained different degrees of financing. easy.
The degradation of optical haze is the main problem of nano silver wires. High haze will affect the display effect of high-resolution displays. NBKT Optoelectronics claims that the nano-silver wire transparent conductive film KT-10Ω-SC produced has a haze of less than 3.0% and a light transmittance of 85.7%, which is also a good standard in the industry.
NBKT Optoelectronics completed laboratory construction in 2014 and completed its first mass production in 2016. At present, NBKT Optoelectronics has achieved 10 intellectual property achievements, including independent intellectual property rights such as film structure design, production process, touch screen structure design, and complete processing technology.
In terms of team, Wang Hailiang, general manager of NBKT, graduated from the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1995. From 1995 to 1997, he engaged in postdoctoral research at the Institute of Polymer and Organic Solids at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to founding NBKT Optoelectronics, he has been engaged in the research and development of optoelectronically active polymer materials, nanomaterials and thin films in the United States, and has 13 U.S. authorized patents.