The Purdue University researchers said the achievement marks a step toward realizing applications such as e-paper, flexible color monitors and "heads-up" displays in car windshields.

The nanowires are tiny cylindrical structures assembled on glass or thin films of flexible plastic to create a display containing organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDS, that rival the brightness of conventional pixels in flat-panel television sets, computer monitors and displays in consumer electronics.

"This is a step toward demonstrating the practical potential of nanowire transistors in displays and for other applications," said Professor David Janes, who said the nanowires were used to create a proof-of-concept active-matrix display similar to those in television sets and computer monitors.

An active-matrix display is able to precisely direct the flow of electricity to produce video because each picture element, or pixel, possesses its own control circuitry.

The research that included scientists at Northwestern University and the University of Southern California is detailed in the April issue of the journal Nano Letters.