Ultra-flexible and foldable smartphones and tablets may be on the way after researchers created a bendy screen made with graphene.

The screen, created by Cambridge Graphene Centre and Plastic Logic, has a graphene electrode instead of a metal electrode layer in the backplane of the screen.

It can be seen to be folded over by its creators as they change the image of the display.

The companies say that the use of graphene in the screens could be the first step to the wider use of graphene in consumer products.

Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Plastic Logic, said that the technology “will soon enable a new generation of ultra-flexible and even foldable electronics.”

The prototype was created with an electrophoretic imaging film to create an ultra-low power and durable display. The display type is similar to those used in e-readers but it is made of the flexible plastic, rather than glass.

In the future they are looking to include LCD and OLED technology into the screens so they can create full colour and video functionality.

The two organisations are now aiming to build the OLED screen within the next year.

The screen’s limited functionality needs to be overcome before the tech can be implemented in mass consumer devices, but the development is a promising move towards devices that are fully flexible.

It’s not the first flexible screen to be proposed, or to even be developed.

Previously LG has shown off a giant flexible display and academics at the University of Surrey, UK, created a flexible circuit component.

However, the companies’ screen is significant as it encorporates graphene, showing how this new material could be used in everyday products.

Professor Andrea Ferrari, director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre, said: “This is a significant step forward to enable fully wearable and flexible devices.

“This cements the Cambridge graphene-technology cluster and shows how an effective academic-industrial partnership is key to help move graphene from the lab to the factory floor.”

Image one courtesy of Cambridge Graphene Centre and Plastic Logic