Japanese firms join forces

The oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan and Toray Industries will cooperate in the development of new materials for use in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The companies expect that, buoyed by the growing use of OLEDs in televisions and smartphones such as the recently released iPhone X, the market for OLEDs will triple in size over the next three years. The agreement calls for both sides to use each other’s materials as well as assets like evaluation labs and production facilities. Idemitsu claims it started to study OLED materials in the 1980s and that it has become a leader in the production of technically challenging blue emitters as well as in electron transport materials. Toray has developed and produces electron transport materials and insulating materials and is currently working on materials that could serve in the production of flexible OLEDs. Even though OLEDs are increasingly used in smartphones and in some high-end TV models, manufacturers remain unsure about the best way to produce them and which materials to use.