Solvay has announced they have reached a final agreement with Nissan Chemical Industries Ltd for the purchase of patents and expertise for hole injection and hole transport materials for solution processible OLEDs.
The sale follows a strategic analysis of the Organic Electronics market showing that new display technologies are being delayed. As a consequence, Solvay has decided to stop its research activities in this area and has started a value assessment of its OLED patent portfolio.
Solvay said they will continue to transfer its patents and technologies and use its resources for other research programs instead.
Nissan said that going forward, applications of OLED displays are expected to expand. While the current mainstay manufacturing method is based on a chemical vapor deposition process, the establishment of a mass manufacturing technique based on coating is considered promising for reducing manufacturing cost and addressing competitiveness for the manufacture of large-size products.
Under such conditions, Nissan has been working on research and development as well as market cultivation for materials related to coating-type OLED. Solvay’s hole-injection material, based on self-doped polythiophene, offers a superior performance in terms of the transparency of coated films, a low refraction, and the stable storage of ink. Such properties can be further improved by combining the material with the Nissan's technologies.
Nissan will accelerate the development and commercialization of materials related to coating-type OLED by leveraging the technologies acquired pursuant to the agreement.
Editors Note: In Jan 2014 Solvay acquired all of Plextronics OLED patents - See Plextronics receives buyout offer of $32.6 million from Solvay