One of the promises of OLED lighting is that flexible panels can be produced on the cheap using roll-to-roll processes. There is a lot of work towards this goal, but it hasn't been achieved yet. Now researchers from Sweden and Denmark have managed to produce light-emitting electrochemical cells (LEC) using an all-solution-based R2R fabrication process, in ambient conditions. They say that this process can be used to create large area panels too.
Polymer LEC panels are similar to P-OLEDs in structure, but in LECs the emitter polymer is blended with an electrolyte (e.g. LiCF3SO3 dissolved in PEO). LECs, which require only three layers, were first reported 15 years ago, but they suffered from very low lifetime and efficiency. But LECs are very easy to produce and so with steady improvements (mostly from choice of electrodes) LECs are now ready to enter the lighting market.
