Advances in OLEDs Bring Illuminating Wallpaper Closer

Oct-08-14 Advances in OLED technology could eventually lead to light-emitting wallpaper that uses half the energy of conventional fluorescent fixtures.

Several companies are working on increasing the efficiency and lowering the cost of OLED devices and sheets. The startup Pixelligent has used nanoparticles to increase the light output, while OLED Works has been re-engineering the equipment used to make OLEDs in order to manufacture them more quickly while requiring less material. And Konica-Minolta has turned to "roll-to-roll" processing to manufacture their OLED lights on flexible sheets. The company plans to start full-scale production, and will be able to manufacture a million 15 cm-wide sheets each month.

Despite the advances, OLEDs are still too expensive for wide appeal. According to Stephen Forrest, a professor at the University of Michigan who is studying the use of a blue material that could make OLEDs more efficient: “I believe OLED lighting will be a very important lighting source in the future, perhaps a dominant one. But there’s a big gap between what we can do now and what we need to get costs down.”

More Info about this Invention:

[TECHNOLOGYREVIEW.COM]
[PIXELLIGENT.COM]

---