Research Professor Minsoo Kim (Department of Nano Convergence Engineering · BK21-FOUR Nano-Convergent Energy Innovation Materials and Components Talent Training Project Division) announced on the 5th that he has succeeded in developing a commercially viable ultra-low-power liquid crystal display (LCD) technology.

Research Professor Kim’s team, conducting research within Professor Seunghee Lee’s research group at Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) (College of Engineering; Dept. of JBNU-KIST Industry-Academia Convergence Research; Department of Polymer -Nano Science &Technology; and Department of Nano Convergence Engineering), identified the mechanism behind the persistent problem of screen flicker that occurs when the fringe-field switching (FFS) mode—widely used in LCDs—is driven at an ultra-low frequency (1 Hz). They also developed a new liquid crystal material that can suppress this flicker.

This achievement is expected to be a turning point that could dramatically reduce the power consumption of LCDs, which account for about 90% of the global display market.

LCDs display images by controlling the alignment of liquid crystal molecules with electrical signals. However, lowering the driving frequency reduces power consumption but strengthens the flexoelectric effect, causing liquid crystal molecules to move in unintended directions and producing a ‘flicker’ phenomenon below about 30 Hz.

To address this, the research team, in collaboration with LG Display and Merck Performance Materials, theoretically proposed a molecular structure that minimizes the flexoelectric effect and proposed two new methods for simply measuring the flexoelectric coefficients. In particular, the “displacement-current symmetry measurement method” devised by Research Professor Minsoo Kim analyzes the symmetry of the current that flows when the electrode voltage polarity is reversed, allowing easy assessment of the liquid crystal alignment state and making it highly practical for industrial use.

Research Professor Minsoo Kim said, "This achievement demonstrates the possibility that fundamental materials science principles can lead to practical commercial technologies," adding, "It will be an important stepping stone for the commercialization of next-generation low-power LCDs."

The study involved Dr. Junho Jeong, PhD candidate Hayoung Jeong, and master's student Kyuri Choi. It was conducted with support from LG Display, Merck Performance Materials, the Ministry of Education's BK21-FOUR Nano-Convergent Energy Innovation Materials and Components Talent Training Project Division, and the National Research Foundation’s Mid-Career Researcher Support Program. The results were published in the latest issue of Opto-Electronic Advances (IF=22.4), an international journal ranked in the top 3.6% in the optics field, under the title "Flicker minimization in power-saving displays enabled by measurement of difference in flexoelectric coefficients and displacement-current in positive dielectric anisotropy liquid crystals".