Future OLED screen will be integrated into the clothes

According to foreign media reports, Korean researchers have developed the first truly wearable OLED display. Business Korea said that the two research teams of the Korea Academy of Science and Technology and Kolon Glotech have jointly developed a textile-based OLED display. The OLED display they developed is more flexible than competing technologies.

Previously, research teams have developed flexible, foldable and wearable OLED displays. OLED is a self-luminous display technology that produces ultra-thin, flexible displays based on plastic sheets. Ruggedness is not an advantage of OLED display technology, it is easily damaged.

Simply integrating the display with the textile is quite difficult. Generally, the surface of the textile is rough, and the phenomenon of thermal expansion and contraction is serious. The researchers developed a new textile similar to the glass panel, but retaining the textile's pliable properties, the OLED display was then mounted on this type of glass textile.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology and Kolon Glotech have high hopes for textile-based displays. Choi Kyung-chul, a professor at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, said, “Textile OLED displays are more flexible and more reliable than plastic-based displays, and will drive the development of comfortable wearable displays.”

The textile OLED display has a life cycle of more than 1,000 hours and a "standby time" of more than 3,500 hours. Of course, its useful life is not comparable to current displays, but it is a major advancement in the development of wearable displays. Further research will make this technology better, and maybe one day, we can really wear a display that blends with the clothes.