Corning Incorporated today announced a collaborative agreement with OLEDWorks to develop unique, flexible, and conformable OLED lighting solutions using Corning® Willow® Glass as an integrated substrate.

These lighting panels will be used in architectural lighting and luminaries and are expected to provide two times the light output of traditional OLED lighting panels, enabling increased efficiency and lower power consumption.
 
A key component in these new lighting solutions is Willow Glass, an excellent, thin, and flexible hermetic barrier and substrate. Willow Glass helps protect sensitive internal components from damaging moisture and oxygen while also acting as a structural material. This makes it an excellent choice for encapsulating the organic light emitting materials.

“Our collaboration with Corning adds the exciting promise of incredibly thin and flexible OLED lighting to our innovative product offerings,” said David DeJoy, chief executive officer, OLEDWorks. “Through this strategic alliance, the team will significantly improve energy efficiency by creatively integrating Corning’s light extraction technology with OLEDWorks’ formulation science and inventive manufacturing processes. Using Corning Willow Glass in our near-term product roadmap expands our OLED lighting portfolio to provide highly flexible and adaptive design statements for a wider variety of lighting applications.”

“We are pleased to collaborate with OLEDWorks to enable efficient and flexible lighting solutions,” said Dr. Dipak Q. Chowdhury, division vice president and program director, Emerging Innovations Group, Corning. “We believe this work will result in rapid product development and greater design flexibility, opening a world of possibilities for architects and designers.”

OLEDWorks’ novel manufacturing platform delivers affordable OLED solid-state lighting panels. Willow Glass enables system versatility and rapid reaction to market demands. Architects and lighting designers should be able to use conformable OLED lighting solutions in the near future.