Organic Light Emitting Devices Could Put the Light Bulb to Bed
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 04.19.06
Imagine if the window in your living room let in light during the day, turned into an efficient light source in the evening, and then became a movie screen. This may be a reality sooner rather than later thanks to a technology called Organic Light Emitting Devices (OLEDs). OLEDs already exist and are poised to hit the market as cell phone screens, but as we’ve reported, until now they have been limited to single color displays. The leap has now been made to OLEDs that efficiently emit broad spectrum light suitable for illuminating interior spaces. Announced in the magazine Nature, and the result of 13 years of work by University of Southern California and University of Michigan researchers, these OLEDs could create flexible illuminated surfaces that could be situated almost anywhere from walls to windows to curtains. "This process will enable us to get 100 percent efficiency out of a single, broad spectrum light source," said Mark Thompson of USC. Because OLEDs are transparent when shut off, these efficient and long-lived light sources could function as windows when not in use or as flatscreen monitors. :: Gizmag (Image credit: Nature.com)
Ah. . . Isn't it wonderful? We live in "the future". And it's not quite what the Jetsons envisioned.
Flat screen color monitors are the norm, I can take a tiny, slim laptop computer with the processing power of the supercomputers a few decades ago with me to a cafe and access high speed internet wirelessly, and then I can take snapshots of people with my phone and send them wirelessly. What an exciting time to be alive. I wonder what the next century will have in store. . . if we don't destroy the earth before then.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is "100% efficiency"? Does that essentially mean that they don't use any energy?
Geez, I want so badly to become fossil-fuel free but all of the promising technology is always a few years away (94mpg prius) or prohibitively expensive (geothermal heat). At least CFL bulbs have gotten pretty cheap (my local hardware store had bins of them for 50 cents a piece) and they've had a real impact on our electric bill.
DG, regarding geothermal and its cost, you might want to read this.
I think it's a really great concept (installation paid by third party, then you pay back third party with the savings provided by the system, and once it's paid, the savings are all yours..)
100% efficiency refers to the amount of light emitted as a function of the electricity consumed. Incandencent lighting is horrible, with as much as 2/3 of their energy consumed being emitted as heat (ever burned your hand on the bulb?) and compact flourescents are much better. LEDs are better still, and OLEDs would be the first technology to achieve 100% efficiency, if that ends up being possible.
100% efficency??
Unlikely.
all energy (in all forms) experiances losses in its travel from one location to the next.
Wires in your building warmup as the energy moves through the cable that warming is done by electricity going to waste.
Untill we develop a form of cable to move electricity through that doesn't have any resistance then you will never have 100% efficency!
But, it is conceivable that the OLEDs would be closer to 99.5% -- which would really be something to get excited about.
Also, a typical reporter might just round that 99.5% to 100%, nevermind thermodynamics.
Again, I get really tired of hearing over and over again about technologies such as this that appear to be vaporware.
Fuel cells, OLEDs, molecular storage, blah, blah, blah. Yes, they're cool but will the technology ever reach a point where it is commercially viable? And if so, how long will that take?
I for one, am tired of the vaporware. Show it to me when I can buy and watch a movie on it.
And yes, I'm aware there are already consumer devices with OLED screens, however, those are monochrome OLED screens.
Vaporware? 5 years ago nobody had a way of producing white light from an LED. Nowadays we have a whole new generation of flashlights and headlamps that use LEDs and are so much more efficient. How long have OLEDs even been in production? Patience...
A very good Information site about display technologys are:http://www.oled-display.net
Jello,
Part of the reason for hyping technologies that are 5-10 years away is to try and attract capital investment for research into something that could make money. This might frustrate you, but observing reaction to a technology in development helps investors guage the potential for profit if things pan out.
So.... YAY FOR OLEDs!! :P
OLED's are being used by Kodak on their digital cameras (since 2003!). These are NOT single colour or Monochrome!
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0303/03030216kodakls633.asp
More about the newest display generation OLED at http://www.oled.at or http://www.oled-display.net