
Flexible OLEDs switch color on demand
The OLEDs can be bent, designed transparent and with segmentations to fit a nearly unlimited range of shapes for new design opportunities. This work is a follow up of Fraunhofer FEP’s 2015 breakthrough, when it first unveiled adjustable-color OLEDs on rigid substrates.
It took the German researchers another two years of development to integrate these adjustable-color OLEDs on flexible substrates. The OLED modules are able to switch their light emission between two different color temperatures, for example a yellow-blue bi-color emission system can be switched between a pure yellow, a pure blue but also to a white light by activating both colours simultaneously.
The color adjustability from one single lighting component increases design options when using OLEDs on curved surfaces in vehicle interiors such as roofs and curved fixtures.
Fraunhofer has also broadened the range of substrates its flexible OLEDs can be fabricated on, including metal and plastic films as well as ultra-thin glass.
The scientists will debut the new flexible variable-color OLED modules at the International Symposium on Automotive Lighting (ISAL), taking place directly after the International Motor Show Germany (IAA Pkw 2017). Here, they will present a paper “Enhanced Light Out-Coupling for Flexible OLEDs in Automotive Rear Lights” as well as hosting a “Hands-on” Flexible OLED Lighting Workshop aimed at designers and product developers. The workshop will offer a deep level of understanding of the possibilities and technical challenges of integrating OLEDs into existing and future products, and explain how the PI-SCALE pilot line can help with this.
Fraunhofer FEP – www.fep.fraunhofer.de
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