Last Friday Patently Apple reported that there was a breakthrough in flexible Lithium-Ion batteries that would support future foldable smartphones and today we're reporting that South Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute announced that they've developed transparent electrodes for organic light-emitting diode displays out of graphene in cooperation with Hanwha Techwin. The technology could support second generation flexible and foldable smartphones and tablets.

The Korea Herald report notes that Graphene is considered the thinnest, most flexible and fastest in transferring heat and electricity among exiting materials. As display panels become thinner and lighter, ways to utilize graphene are being studied by many research groups.

ETRI and Hanwha said their joint research team succeeded in using graphene to replace indium tin oxide, known as ITO, which has been widely used to make transparent electrodes in OLED panels. ITO is highly fragile, but graphene is flexible and resistant to chipping.

"It is meaningful that we are the first to apply graphene to OLED panels," Cho said. "The technology would help elevate Korea's OLED panel technology by widening the technology gap with Chinese rivals."

A spokesman at LG Display added that "Companies are making similar efforts to develop fordable display panels by minimizing the use of ITO electrodes by applying other materials such as plastics. If commercialized soon, the graphene electrode technology would help the industry achieve fordable panels significantly."

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