No more constant phone charging?

An Oxford University spin-out has invented a new smart material that promises to slash the energy required to power a smartphone screen. The creation threatens to shake up the smartphone and wearable device market, because more than 90 per cent of the battery power in a mobile device is used to illuminate its display.

Dr Peiman Hosseini, founder of Bodle Technologies, has secured an undisclosed but “significant” amount of seed finance from the Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI) fund, the university’s innovation investment arm, which commands £320m in growth capital.

The company is also in talks with some of the world’s largest consumer electronics corporations. The innovation, based on the technology that is used for rewritable DVDs, uses electrical pulses to create vivid, hi-tech displays that require no power and can be viewed clearly, even in direct sunlight.

“We can create an entire new market,” claimed Dr Hosseini. “You have to charge smartwatches every night, which is slowing adoption. But if you had a smartwatch or smart glass that didn’t need much power, you could recharge it just once a week.”

The material can also be used to create smart windows, a market that will be worth $2 billion by 2017.