Researchers in Singapore have developed a revolutionary method for creating full-color images with a resolution of 100,000 dpi . The system uses nanometric metal structures and does not require inks or pigments. By comparison, current industrial ink printers and laser printers have a 10,000 dpi limitation.
The most surprising thing about the milestone is that it allows color to be treated not as a matter of inks combining, but from a lithographic point of view, so that they could be applied to high resolution color displays and optical data storage. high density.
Inspiration came from stained glass, traditionally made by mixing shards of metal with glass. The nanoparticles that make up these pieces of metal scatter the light that passes through them, giving this type of glass its particular richness of colors.
With the new method, the researchers claim to have reached the highest resolution possible in theory for a printed image. “The resolution of printed images depends on the size of the color” nano-dots “and the space that separates them”, explains Karthir Kumar, co-author of the work. The smaller they are and the closer those dots are, the higher resolution the image has. For this reason, by more precisely positioning these points using tiny metal discs with a nanostructured pattern, the resolution reaches the “almost magical” figure of 100,000 dpi. The research has been published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology .
