"When my daughter Michelle was still young, around 8 years old, she loved doodling so much that our home was full of her doodles and colorful paper, which really troubled me a bit at that time. If only there was a board that Michelle could doodle at will." This was what troubled a dad. Then 8-year-old Michelle could not have imagined that she was planting the "seed" for her father's invention of the dust-free blackboard a few years later.

In 2001, Mr. Fenghua Li came to the University of Chicago to study for a doctorate in high-pressure physics of geological sciences. One year later, he found that what he studied was too far away from the application, so he decided to go to Kent State University, which is known as the birthplace of liquid crystal display, to study physical optics. It was there that he started his research in liquid crystal materials.

In 2007, after getting a PhD degree from Kent State University, Dr. Li joined a start-up technology company in Silicon Valley instead of working at Fortune 500 companies. "I believed that I could get more opportunities in a start-up company. My boss, the CTO of the company, was nearly 60 years old at that time. He was willing to give me many tasks, which helped me get the whole picture of the production process, workflow, and core technology in a short time. In the second year, I began to develop new products and led the R&D of liquid crystal switch products for optical communication, which became a hot seller in the US telecom operators. In 2011, the company went public."

In early 2013, after engaging in product development for 6 years, Dr. Li decided to start his own business. He named his company Wicue, because deep down, he perceived himself as a daring person to break the routine and do something cool. "I like to take action first and then conduct a review. I always have a thirst for adventure."

A Trouble, an Opportunity

When working in Silicon Valley, during a meeting, Dr. Li found his colleague trying hard to erase the handwriting on the whiteboard, but the dry ink made it difficult to clear the board. This made him realize the fact that even in Silicon Valley, a city with the world's top-notch technology, people are still using such an inconvenient way of writing. Is it possible to replace the whiteboard? At that moment, he suddenly recalled his little trouble when his daughter was 8 years old. "Can I invent a blackboard on which people can write, doodle, and erase at will?"

This eventually lead to the birth of the world's first high-brightness large-size liquid crystal blackboard in 2014. Based on the comprehensive innovation of liquid crystal handwriting technology, Wicue defines this liquid crystal product as a "dust-free blackboard", which requires no ink or pen and is free of dust. A gentle press of fingertips will make a high-brightness stroke.

The principle of this technology is that the external pressure changes the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules, which are then arranged orderly to reflect natural light and display green handwriting. Based on the bistable liquid crystal structure, any (non-sharp) hard object tool can be used to write, providing great convenience for meeting discussions as well as daily writing and drawing. For one-button erasing, only a trace current is required to restore the arrangement structure of liquid crystal molecules,

which also means that Wicue's dust-free blackboards do not rely on self-illumination like conventional liquid crystal electronic screens. Instead, the display of handwriting comes from the reflection of natural light, without electricity consumed during writing. It is free of blue light and radiation, making it a healthy and eco-friendly product that also suits children and will not damage their eyesight. 

Wide Application of Wicue Dust-Free Blackboards

"Dust-free writing with any hard object, no pen or ink required; high color rendering and high brightness, free of blue light and healthy" - these features allow Wicue dust-free blackboards to replace conventional writing boards, chalk blackboards, and conference whiteboards and become widely used in offices, homes, schools for note-taking, creation, family interaction, education, etc. It is also in line with the trend of energy saving and environmental protection in modern society.

But Wicue did not stand still here. Before long, Dr. Li and the R&D team launched a new model of dust-free blackboards with smart interconnection and partial erasing functions for the education market. After being interconnected with the Smart Screen in the classroom, Wicue dust-free blackboards can be used to write on the same screen with the Smart Screen and synchronize the contents on the blackboard with the background, so that they can be shared after class with one click. The dual-screen interaction helps students focus on listening in class, and take notes afterward. The partial erasing function takes teachers' writing habits into consideration so that they can erase contents as they write. Just gently place the palm on the contents to be erased, and the blackboard automatically senses the action and responds immediately. This brings teachers a more comfortable and environmental teaching environment, without chalk dust anymore. The Wicue dust-free blackboard developed for the education market really solves the pain points in smart classroom writing.

Due to the significant advantage in brightness, production technology, performance, and cost, Wicue products are well-received in the market. "The high-brightness, partial erasing, color display, and roll-to-roll coating process of Wicue blackboards are all independently developed by Wicue with sole and exclusive intellectual property, which are our core advantages," Dr. Li said. "At present, the order quantity of Wicue's dust-free blackboards has reached over 300,000 sets each month."

Becoming the Core Power that Changes People's Lives

The dust-free blackboard is only the first step in the industrialization plan of Wicue's flexible liquid crystal films. Positioned as a "global flexible liquid crystal technology solution provider", Wicue subsequently entered the fields of automotive glass, building wall glass, eyewear, etc. In 2018, Wicue independently developed the liquid crystal film stepless dimming technology, a world-leading innovative technology with millisecond-level instant response and up to 99.9% UV resistance, fully solving the problem of strong sunlight exposure in summer. With a wide range of transmittance, clear vision, and stepless dimming, the products changed the game in dimming technology and provided a revolutionary dimming glass solution for the automotive and construction industry.

Today, Wicue has grown from a small startup team into a National High-Tech Enterprise and Flexible Liquid Crystal Engineering Technology Center of Guangdong Province, with factories and R&D centers in Zhuhai, Pinghu, Kaohsiung, and Hiroshima (Japan). By attracting the world's top talents in the field of liquid crystal display, Wicue products have been exported to overseas markets including Japan, Europe, and North America.

Far more than inventing a writing board to delight an 8-year-old girl, Wicue's vision is to make flexible liquid crystal technology the core power to change people's lives and let more people enjoy the infinite possibilities that optics brings.