A major European project has investigated OLED materials for printing processes, which should lead to lower-cost production compared with competing methods.

A consortium of eleven partners led by Merck has concluded a three-year research project into new solution-processable materials for OLEDs.

project had an overall budget of EUR 29 million (around $37 million) and was co-funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The focus has been on materials that are especially suited for printing processes. Thanks to their high material-utilization rates in comparison with conventional vacuum evaporation processes, printing processes should permit more economical production of OLEDs.

The scope of the project extended from soluble light-emitting materials and charge-transport materials to new adhesives for reliable encapsulation of each OLED component. In addition, physical tests were performed on the materials and on the OLED components in order to gain more in-depth knowledge for future material developments.

Merck