OLED LIGHTING

With lighting consuming over 22% of the total electricity produced here in the U.S., more energy-efficient lighting products are in high demand. Based on the company’s UniversalPHOLED® technology and materials, white OLEDs have the potential to offer power efficiencies that are superior to those for today's incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes.  With the tremendous advances that have been made in this area, a number of our customers and partners have been exhibiting white OLED prototypes at industry conferences and major trade shows. These include:

- LG Chem has announced that they plan to commercialize white OLEDs for lighting applications.  In October 2009, they exhibited a variety of white OLED product concepts at FPD/Green Devices’09 in Yokohama, Japan using our UniversalPHOLED technology and materials.  As shown here, LG Chem has developed a set of white OLED prototypes (5 cm x 5 cm and 10 cm x 10 cm) that illustrate the beautiful, bright, and uniform light emission of an OLED. 

Courtesy of LG Chem

- Using our UniversalPHOLED materials and technology, NEC Lighting has developed a variety of beautiful lighting concepts using white OLEDs.  As shown here, the prototype on the left was recently showcased at Lighting Fair 2011 at Tokyo Big Sight in Japan, while the the prototype on the right was among the prototypes showcased at ENEX 2010 in Tokyo, Japan.  They illustrate very effectively how the very thin form factor of white OLEDs creates a variety of new design opportunities. 

Courtesy of NEC Lighting
    

- Panasonic Electric Works (PEW) is another leader in the development of white OLED lighting.  We have been working with and supplying our proprietary PHOLED materials for evaluation to PEW for several years.  We have also supplied our PHOLED materials to PEW for use in the Japanese National Project for OLEDs.  Through efforts like these, white OLEDs have the opportunity to play an important role in a global “green” solution. 

Courtesy of Panasonic Electric Works

The attached photos are samples of OLED lighting prototypes that PEW has recently developed and shown, including at Lighting+Building 2010 (Frankfurt, Germany, 4/11-4/16/10) and Milano Salone del Mobile (Milan, Italy, 4/15 - 4/18/10).  PEW also recently exhibited at Lighting Fair 2011 (Tokyo, Japan).

- Konica Minolta has been our licensing partner since 2008.  We have also been supplying our proprietary UniversalPHOLED materials to Konica Minolta for evaluation and we have been supporting Konica Minolta in its efforts to develop OLED lighting products for several years.   

- Showa Denko KK has been developing polymer-based white OLEDs for use with coating-type manufacturing equipment that may enable the cost-effective production of large-area lighting panels.  Through their development of a new device structure and the use of phosphorescent OLED technology and materials, the company recently demonstrated a white OLED lighting device with 30 lumens per Watt.

Industry analysts project that OLEDs will reach the performance and cost targets required for the general lighting market within the next ten years, and possibly sooner if government and industry funding increases to address the remaining technological challenges. As the above activities demonstrate, the concept of white OLED lighting has sparked keen interest from the lighting and display industries; emboldening designers and developers to consider using the unique qualities of this technology in novel ways. Niche products, with potentially less demanding cost and power efficiency requirements, are plentiful. Examples include low-to-medium brightness backlights for portable electronics, toys, automotive instrument panels, emergency exit signs, safety items, holiday lighting and novelty clothing/footwear.

In the midst of a push to ban incandescent bulbs and with fluorescent lamps having their own inherent limitations, the lighting industry is in transition. OLEDs have a prime opportunity to play an increasingly important role in this multi-billion dollar lighting market, and the company’s UniversalPHOLED technology and materials is playing a pivotal role in making this possible.