Light Polymers is proud to have had our director of US Marketing and Operations, Sergey Fedotov, present our lyotropic liquid crystal technology during the Society for Information Display’s annual Display Week. Sergey spoke to Light Polymers’ coatable polarizer and retarder chemistry, which we have designed to be coated directly on foldable OLED displays by the display manufacturers.
The function of a circular polarizer in an OLED display is to eliminate the reflections of light off the mirror-like surface of the display and improve its contrast. One of the primary challenges in developing foldable OLED displays for commercial use is finding polarizer materials that are both capable of withstanding hundreds of thousands of bend cycles without degrading and thin enough to compliment the display design.
Light Polymers’ coatable polarizers realize that purpose. These polarizers can achieve < 1.0 μm thickness in a linear polarizer and <5.0 μm in a circular polarizer while maintaining their integrity even at 300,000 folds. At under 5 μm functional layer thickness, they achieve 5% reflectance and neutral color, meeting consumer requirements.
Coatable polarizers utilize existing coating techniques and equipment that is already readily available to display manufacturers and electronics brands, unlike traditional PVA stretched polarizers. These qualities, for the first time, would open polarizers up to affordable production and experimentation. While historically coatable polarizers have not been able to achieve the same efficiencies as traditional polarizers, Light Polymers’ coatable polarizers are now competitive with the specifications of traditional polarizers thanks to recent breakthroughs in material research.
Light Polymers is a Hong Kong based nanochemistry startup with labs in South San Francisco (USA), Taiwan and Korea. With 38 patents granted and 12 pending, we are working to further develop our work on OLED displays as well as expand our reach across industries. Contact us today to learn more about our lyotropic liquid crystal technology or to request a sample of our coatable polarizers for evaluation.
