Merck KGaA recently announced that it has launched a project called "New materials for OLEDs from solutions" (NEMO) together with renowned partners from industry and science. The objective of this project, which is being co-funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is to develop innovative, soluble materials for use in large-area organic light-emitting diode (OLED) components for devices such as televisions, electronic traffic signs or lighting systems. The total budget amounts to around € 32 million.

The NEMO project, which is being funded until the end of July 2012, involves four industrial companies and seven academic partners. Merck is leading the consortium. The three other participating companies are H.C. Starck Clevios GmbH (Leverkusen), Ormecon GmbH (Amersbek near Hamburg) and DELO Industrie Klebstoffe GmbH & Co. KGaA (Windach near Munich). The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (Potsdam) is taking part in NEMO as an independent research organization. The University of Tuebingen and the University of Regensburg are both represented with two chairs each. Further university partners are Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of Potsdam.

The costs of the NEMO project are expected to total € 31.8 million. Within the scope of the promotion program called “Material Innovations for Industry and Society,“ the BMBF is providing funding of € 16 million. The industrial companies will finance the remaining expenses on their own. The project is thus one of the flagship projects of the BMBF promotional initiative “Organic Light-Emitting Diodes – Phase II”

Merck employees Stefan Kleber and Sacha Eichhorn purifying a polymer to be used as an OLED material.

Learn more about the NEMO research project: http://www.merck.de/en/media/extNewsDetail.html?newsId=6EB58A2615FEC502C12576600076F4C7&newsType=1