Researchers improve energy efficiency and lifetime of LECs

‘LECs can thus be produced as inexpensive and large-area, extremely thin, light-emitting devices for informative displays and, at a later stage, lighting applications,’ said Ludvig Edman, a professor of physics at Umeå University in Sweden.

Edman’s university group is focusing on novel organic compounds (such as light-emitting and conducting polymers and graphene) and developing LECs based on such materials.

The researchers are said to have improved the energy efficiency and lifetime of LECs, as well as demonstrated the unique physics and chemistry behind their operation and have recently enhanced the performance of LECs to a point where lifetime and efficiency make them useful for signage applications.

According to a statement, the next step in the development was to ensure that the manufacturing costs were attractive for commercial applications.

Using air-stable materials in a roll-coater apparatus, the team managed to deposit a light-emitting layer and a PEDOT-PSS anode on top of a flexible cathode-coated substrate mounted on a roll by means of a slot-die head.