{"84981":{"#nid":"84981","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Polymer Processing Technique May Lower the Cost of Future Display Devices","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EUntil now, the aluminum tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq3) material - which is used as the emission and electron transport layer in organic light-emitting diodes - had to be deposited under high vacuum conditions, which requires costly equipment. Attaching it to a polymer backbone allows the material to be applied using solution processes - simple spin-coating methods already widely used for applying thin films of materials.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBeyond the implications for less costly and more flexible flat panel displays and similar devices, the new technique demonstrates that small molecules with interesting properties can be self-assembled onto standard polymer backbones. Using this \u0022Lego-like\u0022 approach could have applications to other materials that are easier to process in polymeric form.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022This could have a significant impact for industry because it would make the manufacture of organic light-emitting diodes much easier,\u0022 said Marcus Weck, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. \u0022You can do this on a lab bench without million-dollar equipment. Being able to spin coat these organic systems could allow production of large surfaces suitable for displays.\u0022\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nDetails of the work were presented March 27th at the 225th American Chemical Society National Meeting in New Orleans, LA. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, the research has also been published in the journal Macromolecules.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBecause they are based on polymers, organic light-emitting diodes produced with the new technique could offer another significant advantage - physical flexibility. That would allow production of displays that are less prone to damage and that can operate in shapes and forms not possible with current technology.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"By chemically linking a difficult-to-process fluorescent material to a universal polymer backbone, Georgia Tech researchers have built the foundation for a future generation of less-expensive display devices based on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2003-04-01 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:41","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2003-04-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2003-04-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/gtresearchnews.gatech.edu\/newsrelease\/alq3.htm","title":"A \u0027Lego-like\u0027 system"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=\u0022\u003EContact  \u003C\/a\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}