Renewable Energy Frontier: OLEDs
t has been several years that scientists have been looking for renewable sources of energy. The two front-runners are wind and solar energy. Although current crop of cars are hybrids of fuel, electric, pneumatic or any combination of both, add to that the environmental means of using ethanol as fuel, ethanol which is produced by sugarcanes and other vegetations, none of them was as controversial and most talked about as compared to Solar Energy.
What made solar source of energy unsuccessful up to the present is the steep cost it has to have it installed and implemented for the mass consumers. The factor is efficiency over cost.
So what does OLED have to do about this? Current displays for little electronic devices such as your mp3 players now have colorful displays. Gone are the days of the old black LCD with the back light of amber, green or most currently blue and white. These new colorful displays are chosen because they attract buyers, and they are cheaper to produce. OLEDs are Organic Light-Emitting Diodes. The basic principle is that they spray tiny organic elements - the diodes - towards a thin plastic film, in the same way an ink jet printer sprays ink on paper. When electrical current excites these diodes, they glow. Different frequencies, emits different colors. The result is a thin lightweight display that is as bright as your computer monitor or TV’s display, and in the near future, you can fold or roll your OLED displays, imagine what your mobile phone or portable video players be like.
What’s making waves now however is that they discovered the opposing effect of the process. In special cases, applying light to the diodes of the OLED, produces current. Scientists discovered, they work similarly as traditional solar cells do.
Currently, these traditional solar cells are based on silicon semiconductor technology, which are delicate and too expensive to mass produce. OLED solar cells are easy to make, manufacturing costs are lower. The electricity-generating polymer materials in OLED solar cells however are formulated differently than their light-emitting counterparts, so you won’t see a combination of a solar cell which is also a display.
