Since the beginning of this year, e-paper has not only broken through the black-and-white limit and realized full-color display, but now it has realized dynamic video playback. In the future, is it possible for e-paper to replace LCD as the most widely used and promising new display technology with its own advantages?
E-paper creates new advantages
For a long time, e-paper has been marked with “paper” rather than the display. However, when the world of e-paper gradually changes from black and white to color, and when it can stably and smoothly play video, the traditional LCD will inevitably be challenged.
Forrester Research Analyst mcquilvey once said that if e-paper can achieve a leap to color and video display technology, it is expected to replace LCD.
Today, both goals have been achieved.
Since this year, e-paper has evolved from black, white, red and yellow to multi-color printed color e-paper or even full-color e-paper. IFLYTEK, Hisense, handheld ireader and other enterprises have launched color e-readers, and industry insiders even set 2020 as the “color year” of e-paper. Today, e-paper is to achieve a dynamic video playback. Recently, South China Normal University and Shenzhen Guohua Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd. jointly developed a reflective paper-like display that can play full dynamic video and display color images of printing quality.
Once upon a time, Li Zhenghao, chairman of e-ink technology, a R & D and manufacturer of e-paper, said publicly that the goal of e-paper is to replace traditional paper, not to compete with LCD, led and other display technologies. However, in a recent interview with China electronic news, Li Zhenghao’s idea has begun to waver. He said: “at present, in addition to LCD and OLED technologies, we can see that e-paper has begun to occupy a place in the display market, but the current market is still not big enough. We hope that e-paper can become the third largest technology in the display industry in the future.”
Challenge mainstream display
Although electronic paper is not as widely used as LCD, led and other display technologies, its future development potential can not be underestimated. Industry insiders believe that e-paper will take the lead to impact the LCD market in the field of commercial display with its own advantages.
Firstly, based on the bistable principle, electronic paper is more energy-saving than LCD.
Bistability is to make the black and white particles of electronic paper move to a fixed point driven by electric field, and then stay in the original position without power consumption. In other words, e-paper only needs to consume a small amount of power when changing the picture, but it does not need to consume power when the picture remains stable. Therefore, e-paper is more energy-saving and environment-friendly than ordinary display screen.
Professor Alex henzen, head of key technology R & D team of color video electrowetting electronic paper, said that the energy consumption of this kind of electronic paper display is several orders of magnitude lower than that of LCD display, and it will be widely used in smart city scenes in the future, including outdoor advertising, traffic information signs, etc., which can further enrich and enhance the application market of commercial display.
Zhang Yue, chief of the business planning section of Chongqing BOE smart electronic system Co., Ltd., believes that in the IOT era, a large number of terminal devices have more stringent requirements for low power consumption. E-paper is likely to surpass LCD and become the best solution for smart display. For example, when e-paper is applied to bus stop signs, there is no need to dig roads and bury wires, and there is no need to connect to the market power. It can only be powered by solar energy storage system. This convenient and energy-saving way is very helpful to promote the green and sustainable development of the city vision.
Secondly, based on the reflective principle, e-paper is more comfortable than LCD.
According to Dong min, Deputy Secretary General of China Electronic Video Association, the backlight of LCD needs to be continuously lit in the display process. In addition to increasing energy consumption, it is not easy to see the information displayed on the screen in the sun, which is easy to cause visual fatigue. Electronic paper generally adopts reflective or semi transparent display mode, does not need backlight, displays information clearly in sunlight or strong light, and is closer to the reading effect of paper, so vision is not easy to produce fatigue. Dong min explained: “the light source of reflective display technology comes from the environment or external light source. The backlight without continuous energy consumption can not only reduce energy consumption, but also have low environmental requirements. Compared with the general display technology, in order to still be visible in the sun and greatly increase the brightness of the backlight, the electronic paper of reflective display technology is that the stronger the ambient light source, the better the display effect. “
In addition, the changing appearance of e-paper may extend its application scenarios to more fields, squeezing LCD market share.
For a long time, LCD has been trying to break through the shackles of form, and even hope to achieve the ideal state of full flexibility, but the effect is not ideal. In contrast, e-paper is easier to achieve light and flexible appearance.
Recently, the world’s first Full-Color Electronic backplane, OTFT, has come out. Compared with the conventional glass based TFT backplane, the OTFT backplane is more robust, light and thin, and less fragile.
Dong Min said that after the realization of flexible form, the application scope of full-color electronic paper will be expanded. For example, wearable devices with both light weight and flexibility are a good choice.
Or become a new blue ocean of display industry
In the final analysis, the market competition between e-paper and LCD is a pure technology competition. It has been said that e-paper is still a “transitional technology” at present. No matter in consumer electronics or other fields, e-paper is still in a state of survival in the cracks. In fact, although e-paper has obvious advantages in some aspects, there are still some limitations in e-paper technology.
CINNO Zeng long, senior analyst of research, said: “firstly, the main problem faced by e-paper is that the refresh speed is slow, and it is generally difficult to reach within 0.5 seconds, so the time sense of picture switching is more obvious, which is far less than the smooth display effect of LCD screen. Secondly, in the process of page turning and refreshing, e-paper will appear black screen or residual shadow, that is, after a period of time, the picture will be changed It is easy to remain, which is also the key to the difficulty of dynamic video playback of e-paper before. Thirdly, e-paper occasionally distorts when displaying color and image, which is the advantage of LCD screen. Finally, the technology of color e-paper is still in its infancy and has not been applied in large-scale production, and its cost is much higher than that of black-and-white ink screen. “
Dong min pointed out that the future development direction of e-paper is that the color display experience should catch up with the LCD display, and realize the full flexibility of full size range with high performance and price through material innovation, and continue to optimize the passive ultra-low power consumption through NFC and UHF.
“Although there are a series of problems in color electronic paper products, which limit the popularization of this display technology, with the further maturity of the production process and the gradual decline of the cost, people’s cognition and application of color ink screen will be more extensive. In the future, combined with a variety of advantages, we will accurately position the market demand, and under the promotion of suitable application scenarios, we believe that the color e-ink screen industry will usher in its own spring. ” Zhao Feilong, deputy general manager of iFLYTEK’s reading and writing technology, told reporters.
“As a display medium different from LCD, e-paper has great development potential. It is not a chicken rib of marginalization. Nowadays, the competition in the LCD field is fierce, and the electronic paper market with continuous innovation is likely to become a new blue ocean. ” Dr. Cai JUANJUAN, chief technology officer of einktai, pointed out in an interview with China Electronics News that more resources are expected to be invested in the research and development of e-paper to make the industry more competitive. In the future, e-paper may become the third track in the display industry after LCD and led.
Post time: Dec-28-2020