The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) said on the 2nd that they selected Choi Soo-seok, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH, as the September recipient of the "Korea Scientist and Engineer Award."
The Korea Scientist and Engineer Award is given each month to one researcher who has produced original research results over the past three years. The Ministry of Science and ICT has operated the award under the new name "Korea Scientist and Engineer Award" starting this year, changing it from the previous "Scientist and Engineer of the Month."
Professor Choi was recognized for developing so-called "real full color" technology that directly generates and changes desired colors and wavelengths across the entire visible spectrum by using chiral nanostructures. Chiral nanostructures implement at the nanoscale the structural property of being mirror images like the left and right hands, yet not completely superimposable.
Conventional displays and image sensors mainly express color by combining red (R), green (G), and blue (B). However, their structures are complex, and there are limits to directly implementing a wide range of colors and wavelengths or adjusting them continuously.
Choi's team took a cue from phenomena in which butterflies and chameleons display colors using fine structures instead of pigments. They created chiral nanostructures that realize desired colors and wavelengths by using a self-assembly method in which molecules arrange themselves helically and by controlling the molecular pitch.
On this basis, they implemented a photonic electronic skin (Photonic E-Skin) that changes color depending on the direction and degree of stretching. Because external deformation can be identified through color changes, the technology can be used for wearable sensors.
They also developed a low-voltage 2V tunable color filter that selects colors by electrically changing the period of the nanostructure and a color-wavelength tunable laser (Color Tunable LASER) that can adjust wavelengths in the visible range. The related technologies can broaden their applications beyond displays to Augmented Reality (AR), holograms, and optoelectronics.
Choi said, "It is meaningful that we supplemented the limits of the conventional RGB mixing method through chiral nanostructures that can generate and convert colors and wavelengths across the entire visible spectrum," adding, "We plan to continue our research into various optoelectronic fields such as next-generation displays, optoelectronics, AR, and holograms."