Dr. Eric Nelson reported in the 248th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society held on Aug. 10 through Aug. 14 that 3M, with the help of Nansosys Inc., has produced an energy efficient display that produces more vivid colors.

The report on the quantum dots is one of the approximately 12,000 talks at the conference.

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"Green grass just pops out at you from these displays," says Nelson, who helped create the plastic films that hold the quantum dots in a screen. "We believe this is the most efficient way to get to a high-color display."

The displays that run on the newly developed quantum dot, or "QD," technology consumes less electricity compared to other choices with high-colors. The quantum dots are minute superconducting crystals. So small, in fact, that the width of a normal human hair could accommodate 10,000 of the crystals.

Majority of the current electronic devices, such as televisions, smartphones and tablets, use liquid crystal displays, or LCDs. The classic LCD works by emitting light through a number of filters that produce colors the user views. The filters used by LCDs need to be relatively dark to produce the best colors.

One of the problems with LCD screens is that it consumes a lot of electricity to emit a light bright enough for the for the viewer to see, said Nelson. He also said that there is another problem with the present popular display.

"You always tend to leak a bit of green into red, and blue into green, and so forth, Nelson said. "So instead of ending up with a very pure red, you end up with an orange-y color. It's difficult to get roses or apples to look very red on a conventional LCD."

The quantum dots, on the other hand, change the light into a different color instead of filtering it. The dots, which were developed by Nanosys, produce particular colors of light depending on the size of the crystals.

The full QDEF displays are manufactured by 3M by embedding the quantum dots between two polymer films to prevent the rapid breakdown of the crystals when exposed to oxygen and water.

The corporation is hopeful that the QDEF displays would be able to establish itself in the display market alongside the more expensive and existing displays such as the aforementioned LCDs and the organic light-emitting diodes.

TagsLCD, TV, Screen, Tablet, Tablets, 3M, OLED