The screen is made of pioneering material which is extremely flexible and will spell an end to the misery of cracked smartphone screens – potentially saving users thousands of pounds in repairs each year.

At a fifth of the cost of current touchscreens, the new technology – which could be rolled out on mobiles as early as 2018 – could send the prices of phones, TVs and tablets tumbling.

Currently the electrodes in touch screens are made from indium tin oxide (ITO) – a rare and expensive metal.

But supplies of indium are running out and there has been a global race against time to find the next electrical conductive material that could be used by manufacturers.

Scientists working in Britain have looking at hybrid materials that are able to conduct electricity.

Using a simple and inexpensive method physicists are producing hybrid electrodes, the building blocks of touchscreen technology, from silver nanowires and graphene.

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