Scientists work on design for more efficient organic LED displays

Organic LED displays (OLED) are already fairly common, both in the smartphone market as well as in the realm of larger domestic and commercial screens.

However, while OLED technology is innately more efficient than traditional alternatives, there are still some inefficiencies which are being addressed by researchers at the University of Utah, according to Science Daily.

The issue is down to polarisation, which means that the light which is being emitted by each pixel can end up trapped internally, rather than pumped out to the awaiting eyes of viewers.

This means that brightness levels could be much higher, or less energy consumed to produce more vibrant visuals, if only a solution presents itself.

For the scientists at the University of Utah, the answer lies in the formation of the molecules which are used within this type of LED display.

In the past, the molecules have had a spaghetti-like shape, but researchers have developed a molecule which has a wheel-like structure, complete with spokes, which helps to distribute the light randomly, rather than polarising it.

This random distribution of the light means that much more is emitted and the efficiency of the screen is necessarily improved.

Spokesperson, John Lupton, wrote about the development in the journal, Nature Chemistry, last month, explaining that this scrambling of the innate polarising properties of organic LED displays is a real step forwards.

He also pointed out that while the development was impressive, there were still many things to overcome before screens based on the technology would be produced on a large scale.

Organic LEDs are likely to be the future of the display market, although there are competing technologies vying for position, so improvements in the efficiency could help to give this solution the edge.