Wilmington, Del. – Chemical industry giant DuPont said
Monday the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded it a $2.25 million grant
for a two-year project to develop a solid-state lighting source using manufacturing
techniques for low-cost OLED solutions.
DuPont said it will use the funding in the development of low-cost, energy-efficient
OLED lighting solutions.
The project will leverage DuPont’s experience in solutions processing for OLED
displays to address the unique requirements of solid-state lighting, which is
expected to significantly reduce energy consumption compared with incandescent
and fluorescent lamps.
Dupont Solution processing is a cost-effective technique for the
manufacture of OLEDs due to its lower capital investment, reduced fixed costs
and efficient use of materials. The benefits are seen through manufacturing
large areas at low cost while delivering completely new, highly efficient
lighting concepts, DuPont said.
DuPont released a study from the Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance
showing that more than 20 percent of U.S.
electrical energy in 2009 is used for lighting. The U.S.
domestic market for lamps, ballasts, lighting fixtures and lighting controls is
$15 billion and $75 billion, globally. Solid-state lighting technologies, which
include OLEDs, have the potential to save 348 trillion kilowatt-hours of
electricity by 2030 compared with traditional light sources, DuPont sai.d
Compared to LEDs, which are small point sources manufactured on relatively
small semiconductor wafers, OLEDs have a surface-area light source that can be
made on large sheets of glass or in a roll-to-roll process, allowing significant
economies in manufacturing, DuPont said.
