Development of white organic light-emitting devices for general lighting

Since the development of the first white organic light-emitting device (OLED) in 1993, twenty years have passed. The power efficacy and lifetime of that former white OLED were reportedly only -1 and -1 at 1,000 cd m-2, and a tandem white OLED panel realized lifetime of over 100,000 hrs. White OLED is particularly useful where lightweight illumination panels are required, such as in aircraft and space shuttles, and is expected to open new possiblities of novel lighting designs, such as transparent lighting panels and luminescent wallpapers. In this report, we explore recent developments of white OLED, especially three key technologies in material chemistry; (1) low operating voltage technology, (2) phosphorescent OLED technology and (3) multiphoton emission device technology. ©2013 The Society of Polymer Science, Japan.