Project Topless

The rapid advance of LED technology over the last few years – and its energy saving possibilities – gives it the clear potential to become the dominant form of lighting in the near future. But it’s not so obvious what form of light-emitting diode will be most widely used, and keeping up with the competitors’ progress can be as difficult as remembering all their acronyms.

For global supplier Thorn Lighting and spin-out firm Cambridge Display Technology (CDT), the possibilities offered by organic polymer LEDs (PLEDs) and the high-volume printing process used to manufacture them were an exciting prospect.

The problem was that white PLEDs in the laboratory were several orders of magnitude worse than their regular organic LED (OLED) counterparts in terms of efficiency and lifespan. Hence the creation, in partnership with Durham University, of Project TOPLESS – an investigation of Thin Organic Polymeric Light Emitting Semiconductor Surfaces given a more attention-grabbing name.