The UK Carbon Trust is funding a project that aims to develop low energy OLED lighting for outdoors.
The project has been awarded £0.5 million and is the second one financed by the government-funded Trust to exploit plastic electronics technology, indicating how this field dynamic field of technology can be used to develop a raft of environmentally friendly, low carbon and energy-efficient products.
In the newly announced OLED lighting project Lomox, a Welsh technology firm, will develop technology for energy-efficient outdoor lighting.
In 2008 the Carbon Trust awarded Cambridge University funding, which could amount to £5 million over the project's course, to develop polymer solar cells based on core materials similar to those being exploited in the transistor backplane of the Que e-reader recently launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The grant to Lomox will primarily be used to develop the OLED technology for commercial applications. The funds will be used to help Lomox boost the lifespan and reduce production costs of OLED lighting.
Ken Lacey, Lomox's chief executive, believes the company has already taken dramatic steps to overcome these barriers.
'We have been selected as we already have patented technological solutions for these issues,' explains Lacey. 'What's more the results of our OLED lighting are better than other energy-saving bulbs.'
Lomox estimates that using OLED lighting will reduce energy consumption by as much as 60% compared with existing sources.
'Our OLEDs run off a 3 to 5V power source, this opens up possibilities for solar powered lighting for external lighting sources such as billboards or traffic lights,' states Lacey.
Wallpaper
The company is set to launch its first commercial products within the next six months. 'In the next two years we aim to replace the standard street light,' claims Lacey, 'but we also have a number of other "new age" technologies including OLED wallpaper.'
The light emitting wallpaper will be available in 2012, with a range of flexible solutions include screens that can be rolled up.
Pricing information on the wallpaper has not yet been released but early prototypes could cost as much as EUR5000 to make.
'Once we have perfected our production processes, these costs will be dramatically reduced,' admits Lacey. 'Our outdoor lighting solutions are already competitive with existing technology and as we grow we will provide the cheapest most efficient lighting on the market.'
Other high-profile OLED lighting projects in the UK include an initiative between Thorn Lighting (part of Austria's Zumtobel Group), Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) and Durham University to develop printable OLED lighting panels.
Plastic electronics developments in Wales
Lomox is one of several ventures in Wales that are at various stages of commercialising plastic electronics technologies.
Initiatives include a Welsh Assembly-funded project between Corus and Dyesol to develop technology and processes for coating solar cells on steel for the construction industry and G24i, the first factory set up to produce flexible organic solar cells. Applications include bags and portable electronics chargers. The Welsh Printing and Coating Centre is working on several printed electronics projects some in collaboration with Swansea University's NanoHealth Centre that aims to exploit printed electronics to develop biosensors and diagnostic kits.