GLEN ALLEN, Va., 25 Sept. 2008. The market for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting will grow to nearly $4.5 billion by 2013 and grow to $5.9 billion by 2015, predict analysts at market researcher NanoMarkets LC in Glen Allen, Va.
In the past year the prospects for OLED lighting have advanced due to improvements in OLED performance and manufacturing, analysts say.
The unit costs of OLED lights are likely to remain higher than older general lighting technologies but improved OLED lifetimes and efficiencies will offset the extra costs, according to NanoMarkets.
During 2008, OLED lifetimes improved from 24,000 to 100,000 hours. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy expects OLED lighting to reach 150 lumens per Watt (lm/W) efficiency in 2012 rather than 2014 as previously forecast. NanoMarkets believes that these and other improvements in OLEDs will drive the general illumination market to $2.3 billion in revenues by 2015.
Manufacturing processes for OLEDs have also progressed. GE and the Fraunhofer Institute have both demonstrated roll-to-roll manufacturing of OLED lighting which will ultimately lead to significant cost improvements in OLED fabrication.
Low-cost printing approaches and small molecule inks will also help propel OLEDs into the backlighting market. NanoMarkets expects that the OLED backlighting market will reach $1.1 billion by 2015. And while the first OLED lighting panels are quite small, the scaling up of factories in Asia to build large OLED displays will certainly benefit the manufacturing infrastructure for OLED lighting and lead to larger panels within a few years.
The flat and flexible format presented by OLEDs creates an opportunity to design high-value added lighting fixtures with an appeal to upscale consumers and especially architects. During 2008, lighting designer Ingo Maurer introduced the world's first OLED "function table light" and researchers at GE are targeting lighted curtains and lighted wallpaper. By 2015, NanoMarkets projects that sales of OLED architectural and specialist industrial lighting will reach $1.9 billion.
For more information contact NanoMarkets online at www.nanomarkets.net.
