Thorn Lighting in Spennymoor, County Durham, UK is leading a project to develop organic light-emitting diode (OLED) materials and efficient device structures for large area lighting applications. Partners in the project are the University of Durham (Photonics Materials Institute) and Cambridge Display Technology (CDT), with the Department of Trade and Industry providing a maximum funding of £1.6m over three years. Total initial funding amounts to £3.3m.
Under the terms of the grant, CDT through its Sumation joint venture will provide significant knowledge and experience in the field of light emitting conjugated polymers as well as delivering polymer-based OLED materials, device architectures and testing, Durham University has developed one of the most important academic alliances between physicists and chemists in Europe, they have unique facilities for studying energy transfer mechanisms in both polymer materials and device structures.
"The eventual target is 150-200 lm per W. In 2015 we will be near this level and by 2020 OLED lighting will be the first choice," he adds.