EXCILIGHT

Donor-Acceptor light-emitting exciplexes as materials for easily to tailor ultra-efficient OLED lighting

Artificial lighting is a global and growing industry. New forms of efficient solid-state lighting (SSL) in particular are rapidly gaining a market share. New OLED technologies (Organic Light Emitting Diode) can revolutionise this industry as they have done in displays because of their potential flexible structure, infinite tailoring of their properties, efficiency and high colour quality. Industrial forecasts predict that the OLED lighting market will grow from $200 million in 2015 to $1.7 billion by 2020. In order to fully benefit from this huge market potential, Europe`s academia and industry are eager to develop new technologies and recruit highly qualified staff.

The high demand for OLED SSL lighting, however, will place drastic demands on the use of very expensive and rare iridium. EXCILIGHT aims to explore exciplex emitters and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) in OLEDs that will enable us to replace Ir complexes whilst retaining ultrahigh efficiency and giving many new possibilities to simplify OLED design, helping to reduce costs and increase yields of production.

Our network will train 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in the development and application of exciplex and TADF emitters, who can apply their expertise directly in future positions. EXCILIGHT is characterised by an innovative multidisciplinary approach, based on i) a combination of synthesis, physical characterisation and development of devices with the lighting industry, ii) an appropriate balance between research and transferable skills training, and iii) a strong contribution from the private sector, including leading industry and SMEs, through mentoring, courses and secondments.

EXCILIGHT will positively impact the employability of its ESRs in the OLED industry through scientific and industrial training at the local and network level. With this approach we aim to train a new generation of scientists at the same time as integrating this exciting new technology into industry.

• AIXTRON SE, DE
• Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials, PT
• Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, FR
• Kaunas University of Technology, LT
• Ossila Ltd., GB
• Technical University of Lodz, PL
• University of Durham, GB
• University of Strathclyde, GB
• accelopment Schweiz AG, CH