This will include expanding production lines to manufacture ultra-high resolution liquid crystal display (LCD) and organic light emitting diode (OELD) display panels.

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The UCLA Engineering team created a new type of energy-harvesting polarizer for LCDs called a polarizing organic photovoltaic, which can potentially boost the function of an LCD by working simultaneously as a polarizer, a photovoltaic device and an ambient light or sunlight photovoltaic panel.

ENGADGET: Photovoltaic polarizers could make self-charging smartphone dreams come true

Corning is also pushing new glass products such as Willow Glass, a super-thin, flexible glass, and Lotus Glass, for use in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and next-generation LCD displays.

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If Friend's discovery lives up to its promise, the LCD will someday be tossed aside in favor of the OLED--organic light-emitting display.

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"The polarizing organic photovoltaic cell demonstrated by Professor Yang's research group can potentially harvest 75 percent of the wasted photons from LCD backlight and turn them back into electricity, " said Youssry Boutros, program director for the Intel Labs Academic Research Office, which supported the research.

ENGADGET: Photovoltaic polarizers could make self-charging smartphone dreams come true