OLEDs on the Move

Automobile and airplane display panels could soon get a face-lift from a new breed of organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. Existing versions of the organic diodes are used in some cell phones but tend to burn out at high temperatures. By combining different materials, researchers at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada in Mississauga, Ontario, have developed an organic diode that can survive at up to 80 C for 10,000 hours, says Xerox researcher Tony Paine. That’s a tenfold improvement that could open the door to wider use of the technology. Unlike today’s ubiquitous liquid crystal displays, organic light-emitting diodes can be viewed from any angle; they also use less power, generate brighter, sharper images and “switch” images faster for smoother video. In the next year or two, Xerox researchers aim to incorporate their technology into displays.