Forest of Dean-based graphene manufacturer Versarien is working with a team in South Korea to explore applications for touch screen technology.

New research has demonstrated how the rare metal indium, widely used in electronic devices, can be swapped for graphene, to make equipment with the same electronic properties.

Manufacturers use thin films of indium tin oxide (ITO) which are highly electrically conductive and transparent to light to make a variety of display technologies, as well as LED lighting and solar cells.

But indium is a rare element and usually has to be extracted as a by-product of ores mined for other metals, like zinc.

A new study by researchers at Paragraf and Queen Mary University of London has been examining the use of graphene - a material which is a layer of carbon just one atom thick.

Professor Colin Humphreys, an author of the latest study, said: "Because of its importance and scarcity there have been many attempts to replace ITO, but no material has been found to have a comparable performance in an electronic or optical device until now."

Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, said: "We are working on similar projects with a team in South Korea.

"It just goes to show what kind of advantages this type of material can give in overcoming the challenges we face in the future."

Despite its scarcity, indium is still relatively cheap, while graphene is currently costly to produce in bulk. Improvements to production methods aim to make graphene available on a larger scale at cheaper cost.