German Consortium Seeks Path to Commercial Flexible OLEDs

A new industry consortium will explore how to integrate organic LEDs that are flat and flexible into automobiles, aircraft and households.

Dubbed R2D2, the initiative is supported by a two-year, €5.9 million grant from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

According to the consortium, OLEDs allow for transparent light sources with very low energy consumption and can be applied to flexible substrates. Bringing them to market, however, will require new, low-cost manufacturing techniques.

A flexible organic LED. Courtesy of Fraunhofer FEP.

The consortium is led by Dr. Christian May of the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology.

He said the group will explore piecewise and roll-to-roll manufacturing approaches while addressing problems in OLED durability, efficiency and luminance homogeneity. The group will also consider material research, plant construction, component technology and application studies for future products.

Project partners include Osram OLED, Novaled, Von Ardenne, the Audi Group, Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. and Diehl Aerospace.

For more information, visit www.fep.fraunhofer.de.