According to a Tech-On news report Sumitomo Chemical recently exhibited a flexible printed OLED lighting panel at the recent held Automotive Engineering Exposition (AEE) 2013 in Yokohama, Japan.
Sumitomo Chemical showed several flexible printed polymer OLED panels, these panels had been manufactured using both with a ink-jet printing and roll-to-roll (slot-die) coating technology at ordinary temperatures and pressures.
OLED lighting devices are being actively developed both in and outside Japan [Editor's Note: assumed to be Cambridge Display Technology]
Flexible and curved OLED lighting is very attractive to designers, and offers them greater flexibility in the development of innovative and creative lighting products. Sumitomo Chemical specifically said that they expect these OLED panels to be used as ceiling and floor illumination.
In order to enter volume production Sumitomo Chemical intends to further extend the lifetimes of the emissive polymers, improve overall brightness and improve production yields.
The company expects to use both ink-jet and roll-to-roll technologies when the lamp is commercialised.
A spokesperson for Sumitomo Chemical said, "Many other companies are using small molecule. In many cases, small molecules require vacuum deposition and, thus, are not very much suited for printing. On the other hand, printing technologies can be easily applied to our polymer OLEDs."