Flexible ITO-free touch panel based on the effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields

To overcome the high cost and limited availability of indium tin oxide (ITO) used in manufacturing touch panels, in this work a novel polymer-based touch panel is proposed. The proposed touch panel interface is mainly made from a composition of acrylic resin and Polyethylene glycol which are abundant and low-cost materials. The touch-sensing technology adopted for this touch panel is based on detecting the induced voltage on the human body resulting from the surrounding 50/60Hz electromagnetic waves of power lines. In addition to its low cost and good performance, the implemented touch panel is flexible, transparent and above all, its interface is made from high-resistivity materials offering promising alternatives to ITO in touch panels manufacturing.