The material, a plastic film covered with cholestric liquid crystal, only requires heat to record images and does not consume electricity to maintain the display. To change content, it is simply put into a thermal writing device for image removing and writing in one step. It is said to be eco-friendly and rewritable for multiple (up to 260) times. Resolutions of 300 dpi can be achieved and it has a memory function. The compound does not require a backlight to print, and can produce different colours. The ideal use is for paper signs and posters. An A4-sized sheet of the i2R e-Paper costs about 60 Taiwan dollars, which is about 2 US dollars.

With this technology ITRI became one of the winners of the R&D 100 Awards (sponsored by the R&D Magazine, USA) which recognises the 100 most technologically significant new products of the year.

ITRI press release