Cellulose .. From the books to the future screens

The Little Mohammed Al Gharbi

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cellulose extracted from plants and trees used in the book industry has the right physical properties to be used in the future to make flexible screens, according to a new study by Japanese researchers.

A group of researchers from the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research at the University of Osaka has determined the optical properties of cellulose particles with unprecedented accuracy. They found that the self-refractive index of cellulose - which describes how substances interact with light in different directions - is strong enough to use this material in future optical displays, such as flexible screens or electronic paper.

Cellulose nanoparticles
Cellulose is an old material that is preparing to return from the big door. It has been used for thousands of years as a basic material in the manufacture of paper books and cotton clothes.

While tablets, computers and smart phones are replacing books made of cellulose extracted from plants and trees, researchers at the University of Osaka have shown that the material has properties that could make it a key material for making future electronic screens that are cheaper and provide more images Pronounced and lively.

Cellulose, a natural polymer, is made up of innumerable long molecular chains. Because of its hardness and strength, it helps maintain the structural integrity of cell walls in plants.

Cellulose accounts for about 99% of the nanoparticles in some plant products such as Nata de Coco, a gelatinous, transparent coconut extract in the Philippines and Indonesia. Researchers used it to extract cellulose fibers for the study.

Optical properties of cellulose
The Japanese research team was able to achieve the best results using high-quality monolithic cellulose filaments created by nata de coco extension of various samples at different speeds.

Nanoparticles allow cellulose chains to be straight at the molecular level, which has helped measure the double-photon refraction - in two different directions - within it accurately.

The researchers say the results of the study of the optical properties of cellulose confirms that it can be used as a basic material for the manufacture of light offset films in the LCD, which controls the brightness of pixel units using filters that allow light to pass in one direction only.

The addition of cellulose films to smart phones, computers and TVs with LCD monitors is expected to significantly improve the quality of the images.

"Nano cellulose fibers are promising photovoltaic materials, such as flexible screens and electronic paper, because they also have good transparency, flexibility, dimensional stability and thermal conductivity," said Kogiro Utani, lead author of the recently published study on the subject.

"So you can look for this old material in your high-tech devices in the future," says the researcher at Osaka University.