Europeans flex skills to commercialize OLED and OPV devices
The Flexibilis project brings together world class capability in the research, development and scale-up of printed electronics applications. The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is coordinating the project, which includes UK based Teer Coatings Limited (part of Miba ), the University of Bolton, and two Austrian organisations namely the research centre NanoTecCenter Weiz Forschungsgesellschaft mbH and High Tech Coatings GmbH (also part of Miba).
Currently the commercialisation of Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) and Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) based applications such as flexible displays, lighting and energy harvesting devices is heavily dependent on the use of indium tin oxide (ITO) for transparent conducting films, and encapsulation films with high performance barrier properties.
There is an industry need for the creation of alternative technologies and materials that have equal performance but deliver low cost, sustainable, transparent and flexible products for these applications. Throughout Europe, it is proving difficult to develop the manufacture of these alternative materials beyond laboratory scale to the position where they are available in large area quantities at a price compatible with supporting market growth. Flexibilis is striving to address and resolve these technical issues.
Phil Hollis, Programme Manager at CPI, said: “The Flexibilis project brings together highly capable European players able to develop the technologies needed for flexible electronics. Already we have demonstrated some promising results in the replacement of ITO and the development of a high performing barrier aiming at OLED and OPV applications. The next challenges will be to refine and apply these results to demonstration devices, and test their suitability at pilot manufacturing scale.”
The new way of manufacturing electronics will give rise to a wide range of novel applications such as flexible displays for mobile devices, smart therapeutic bandages for managing and monitoring recovery of wounds, wearable electronics for monitoring and improving performance, wireless medical devices for rapid diagnostics using printed sensors, conformable lighting and intelligent packaging for consumer goods and industrial products, to name but a few.
Flexibilis is an OLAE+ transnational call for collaborative research and development proposals under the European Commission’s ERA-NET Plus scheme. The aim of OLAE+ is to attract, qualify and support proposals to develop and stimulate the technology and business relationships within the European printable electronics market, building the supply chain and removing barriers to industrialisation.
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