With the advent of the Metaverse era, people increasingly expect that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies are likely to improve the convenience of everyday life and the productivity of the industry.
A UNIST-affiliated joint research team has unveiled a core smart contact lens technology that can enable AR-based navigation in a 3D printing process. The new smart contact lenses can be worn in the human eye just like normal contact lenses, the research team says.
The breakthrough, published in the February 2023 issue of Advanced Science, was carried out jointly by Prof. Im Doo Jung of UNIST’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Seung Kwon Seol of the Korean Electrical Research Center’s Intelligent 3D Printing Research Group. Institute (CARI).
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Some of the disadvantages of current AR devices include high price, experimental technology, and bulky appearance, making it difficult to get to market. On the other hand, smart contact lenses have the advantage of being affordable and convenient as they can be worn inside the human eye. Leading companies around the world such as Google are currently working on the development of AR-enabled smart contact lenses. However, there are still obstacles preventing efficient and effective commercialization of research due to serious technical problems.
Energy-efficient electrochromic (EC) displays that can be driven with low power consumption are suitable for implementing augmented reality with smart contact lenses. Prussian blue (PB) is considered one of the attractive EC materials due to its uniform coloration, fast kinetics, high optical contrast, multiple color states (blue, white, green), environmental friendliness and cost competitiveness. However, the research team noted that this method has limitations when displaying desired text or images on AR smart contact lenses due to the complexity of PB micropatterning on contact lenses.
The joint research team investigated how to create PB micropatterns without using an electroplating process, and thus they developed a simple and effective printing strategy using meniscus printing with acidic ferricyanide inks composed of FeCl3, K3Fe(CN)6 and HCl. The key lies in the meniscus of acidic ferricyanide ink.
As with conventional electroplating methods, the substrate used must be conductive when voltage is applied. However, for the meniscus phenomenon, there are no restrictions on the substrates used, since crystallization occurs due to the natural evaporation of the solvent. Our micro-pattern technology is so fine (7.2 microns) that it can be applied to augmented reality smart contact lens displays, and the colors are continuous and uniform.
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The role of smart contact lenses is most anticipated in areas such as navigation. Through experimentation, the researchers successfully demonstrated a PB-based EC display in a navigation-enabled smart contact lens. The research team noted that the device is capable of showing the user the direction of the destination on the EC display, receiving real-time GPS coordinates.
“Although thin ITO glass was used for EC displays in this study, it could be further developed as a method for patterning transparent electrodes such as graphene, flexible materials, and EC printed materials,” the research team noted. “We believe our new strategy will be an attractive approach to implement PB-based EC displays as well as various functional devices with micro-PB patterns.”
Data provided by Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST). Originally written by Joo Hyun-ho. NOTE. Content can be edited for style and length.
Post time: Mar-20-2023
