GE Announces Major OLED Breakthrough

GE Announces Major OLED Breakthrough

GE Global Research, the centralized research organization of General Electric, has announced a major breakthrough in Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)—the thin sheets of plastic-like material that emit light when powered by electricity.

Breaking two world records, the demonstration OLED device is now fully functional as a 24-inch x 24-inch panel, which produces 1,200 lumens of light with an efficacy of 15 lumens per watt (on par with today's incandescent bulb technology). Based on the dimensions of a room, the desired level of brightness can be increased or decreased depending on the number of 24-inch x 24-inch panels installed.

"We are extremely excited about accomplishing a task that many thought would be impossible," said Anil Duggal, manager of GE's light energy conversion program. "This is definitely a significant milestone in turning an abstract idea into a viable product."

The ultimate goal is to create sheets of paper-thin lighting devices that can be applied to surfaces in a similar way to wallpapering. During the three-year project, which was cosponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Program (DOE/BT) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory, GE's scientists have been able to increase the efficiency of illumination-quality OLEDs by a factor of 4, as well as increase the light output by a factor of 600.