OLEDWorks and BASF’s Coatings division have joined forces to develop the world’s brightest bendable OLED panels. The new product range, named Brite 3, enables an improved efficacy while having still the superb color rendering and high brightness option. In addition to the new bendable version, completely new application spaces will be possible for luminaire makers and lighting designers. The Brite 3 portfolio, inclusive a new round shape and the bendable version, will be introduced at the 2018 Light + Building exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany.
 
OLED lighting technology is very thin and lightweight and offers the best natural light quality for professional and residential lighting and unique design options for automotive lighting. To increase the capabilities of OLED lighting as design elements, bendable panels are required to make shaped or curved luminaires.
 
“We already offer the brightest and most reliable OLED panels in the world – and now we are going one step further and increase our portfolio by adding flexibility thanks to BASF’s unique barrier solutions,” said Wolfgang Görgen, managing director at OLEDWorks.
 
In close interaction with OLEDWorks, BASF has developed barrier materials that are crucial to realize flexible thin-film encapsulation for OLED lighting and display application. In the new Brite 3 panels, The high-performance encapsulation protects the panels from degradation through water or oxygen, both present in ambient air, and provides an excellent optical transparency of more than 90%.
 
“Our barrier solutions provide comparable barrier protection as glass. But unlike glass, thin-film encapsulation using BASF barrier materials is flexible, lightweight and break-resistant, offering new possibilities for product design and increased reliability in manufacturing for OLED lighting and display customers,” said Stephan Klotz, head of Functional Films – NOVAGA at BASF’s Coatings division.