Silver nanowires combine with graphene for more shatterproof screens

The breakthrough by scientists at Sussex University is also claimed to promise devices that use less energy, are more responsive, and do not tarnish in the air.

Smartphone screens are currently made with indium tin oxide, which is brittle and expensive. The primary constituent, indium, is also a rare metal and is ecologically damaging to extract. Silver, which has been shown to be the best alternative to indium tin oxide, is also expensive.

Prof Alan Dalton, from the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Sussex University said that the research combines silver nanowires and graphene for the first time.

“What’s exciting about what we’re doing is the way we put the graphene layer down,” he said. “We float the graphene particles on the surface of water, then pick them up with a rubber stamp…and lay it on top of the silver nanowire film in whatever pattern we like.