Dr. Dae Yoon Kim (Polymer and Nano Science and Technology) has been attracting attention from the world academy by developing nanoparticles that can dramatically reduce the cost of manufacturing liquid crystal display televisions.

The research was introduced in Small (IF = 8.643, TOP = 7.091%), one of the eminent academic journals in the field of materials science in January as a cover story, where it received great attention.

Dr. Kim has developed nanoparticles that can automatically control the vertical alignment of liquid crystals in a large area eliminating the need for alignment layer processing in manufacturing LCD televisions.

Alignment layer is a material that gives regularity when liquid crystal in the LCD is moved by external voltage.

He added the newly developed organic compound to the liquid crystal in a small amount to induce automatic vertical orientation.

It is anticipated that production of competitive products through cost reduction by eliminating the alignment layer coating step in the production of LCD televisions.

In addition, since a high-temperature sintering (plastic) process is not required, these nanoparticles are expected to contribute to the commercialization of flexible displays using relatively weak heat-resistant plastic substrates.

Kim, currently completing his doctoral degree at Chonbuk National University in February, will keep up his research at the Massachusettes Institute of Technology (MIT) as a postdoctoral fellow of the Department of Materials Engineering starting from this March.