It may not be practical for everyday TV watching, but University of Tokyo researchers have developed a stretchy rubber-like OLED display that could provide a low-power alternative for 3D displays of all stripes. The organic electroluminescent (EL) display, which is thinner and less power-hungry than equivalent plasma and LCD screens, is produced through a cheap industrial printing process by spraying carbon nanotubes with a fluoro-rubber compound. The resulting display can be stretched to 50% of its normal size and can be folded one thousand times while maintaining normal quality.

As of right now, the displays are 100 square centimeters and have a resolution of 256 monochrome pixels. In the future, University of Tokyo researchers hope to produce full-color displays with an improved resolution.

Current prototypes include a face-shaped display that shows changing expressions and a spherical screen that shows weather information. But the OLED technology could have another use: flexible, energy-sipping, big-screen OLED cell phones. 

[Via Mainichi]

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