The problem:
Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are used extensively in small displays on smartphones and watches for their excellent picture quality and low power consumption. There is clear demand for this excellent picture quality in larger format displays such as laptop screens and TVs, but the cost to manufacture such displays through currently used vacuum deposition (VD) techniques is very high. As such, the market for larger OLED displays currently remains restricted to premium and luxury goods.
Solution processing is an established fabrication technique that uses less energy and generates less waste than VD. The global market for OLED materials is currently expected to grow by 26% over the next three years to $2.3 billion. Within this, the market for solution-processable materials is expected to grow rapidly at more than 100% per year to reach $268 million in 2025. However, solution processing is yet to be widely adopted, as one of the main bottlenecks is the availability of suitable emitter materials.
The solution:
We have developed sustainable organic emitters that are ideally suited for solution-processed OLEDs (SP-OLEDs), as they are free of the scarce, expensive heavy metals that have been an integral part of all OLED emitters to date. Furthermore, our less energy-intensive and more sustainable manufacturing method, combined with the lower cost of synthesis and our sustainable and metal-free emitters, will significantly reduce OLED fabrication costs and environmental impact while maintaining high performance.
We envisage SolOLED to be an R&D company developing material solutions for the SP-OLED market. SMEs Cynora (Germany) and Kyulux (Japan) have already successfully shown that a start-up company focused on OLED materials can be spun out from an academic lab. Based on their model, SolOLED has developed a preliminary business plan and already established relationships with a potential customer. We are currently seeking to develop the commercial side of our business and generate additional IP to increase the value of SolOLED, in order to attract seed investment.
Traction:
- To date, we have raised £267,000 from the Impact Acceleration Account programme, the St Andrews Restarting Research Funding Program, the Scottish Enterprise High-Growth Spinout Programme and CENSIS.
Associated Programme
