Television screens are getting bigger, sharper and more colorful, and they could now be up to 30% brighter.
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A study reported in the journal Chemical & Engineering News, an independent news outlet of the American Chemical Society, explains the technology behind LG Display’s latest organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays consisting of deuterated compounds.
The compounds, which play a role in boosting the brightness by increasing the lifetimes of the materials could someday find their use in other electronics, such as computer monitors, signs and automotive displays.
OLED TVs promote better picture quality compared to the more common liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), due in part to their higher contrast. However, they are not as bright as the majority of the LCDs.
According to Senior Editor Alex Tullo, a next-generation technology known as OLED.EX was revealed by LG Display in recent times, offering up to 30% improved brightness than the traditional OLED displays.
The company acknowledged that it was possible to provide the enhanced brightness from a compound, supplied by DuPont, in which one hydrogen has been replaced with its bulkier isotope called deuterium.
As there is a stronger bond between carbon and deuterium than those between hydrogen and carbon, materials made out of deuterated compounds tend to have a longer lifetime. This enables OLED displays to function brighter than the previous generation but last just as long.
Tullo states that OLED displays currently make up just around 3% of the television sector, compared to 30 to 40% of the smartphone market share. But deuterium has the ability to extend the OLED market for TV and other increasingly demanding display applications.
For instance, deuteration could someday be utilized to promote the life of automotive displays, which rapidly decline during hot summer conditions. Before these compounds can be extensively used, and their costs are reduced, the supply bottleneck for deuterium needs to be solved, state the experts.
The existence of deuterium in natural water is at a ratio of one deuterium atom for every 6,400 hydrogens. However, not many heavy water production facilities — which tend to concentrate deuterium-containing water (D2O) — exist. Hence, the majority of the deuterium at present comes from government stockpiles.