OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, has the characteristics of electroluminescence; Sandwich layer structure, no backlight module, filter plate, liquid crystal and other components, and can withstand high temperature process; After CRT, LCD, the most promising new display technology, with flexible display, ultra-light and ultra-thin, sensitive response, high contrast, wide visual Angle, low energy consumption, applicable temperature range, good shock resistance and other performance advantages. OLED has a long upstream and downstream industrial chain and involves a variety of materials, among which organic light-emitting materials are the core.

At present, there is a saying in the industry that it is very difficult for international big manufacturers to break through the patent barrier and produce their own patented products because they have mastered the core basic patents of OLED materials. But judging from the development trend of OLED materials, Chinese materials companies are not without opportunities to catch up. At present, TADF(thermal activation delayed fluorescence) technology is in full development in foreign material enterprises and universities, and everyone is actively laying out patents. Although at the present stage, the technology is still far from the index of industrial application, and the possibility of product application is relatively small in the short term. However, the product breakthrough of this technology can solve the pain points and shortcomings of the low efficiency of blue light emitting by panel customers, and maximize the possible extension of the design space of the screen body.

Research and development is not overnight work, but from the basic research and development, through long-term accumulation, precipitation, screening the best performance of the product. Based on the third-generation TADF (thermally activated delayed fluorescence) material, a new generation TASF (thermally activated sensitized fluorescence) technology was proposed in cooperation with the organic optoelectronics laboratory of tsinghua university, which solved the problems of the inherent spectrum width and serious efficiency roll drop of TADF material. In 2019, the tripod material prepared a high-performance bottom light emitting device, realizing the light emitting wavelength of 460 nm, color coordinate CIE=(0.13,0.10), and at 1000 nit brightness, external quantum efficiency EQE>16%. This is the first time in the field of international OLED materials that the EQE (external quantum efficiency) of deep blue light has exceeded 15% under the condition of 460nm, solving the problem of blue light efficiency to the maximum extent.

OLED material market opportunities, the influx of domestic enterprises

It is reported that in 2022, the global OLED display panel market size is about 40 billion us dollars, OLED materials demand nearly 6 billion us dollars; If OLED lighting is added, the OLED industry will be a trillion market in the future, with huge development potential. Organic luminescence layer material is the key material of OLED, so it has attracted the attention of enterprises. OLED luminescent materials are usually divided into three categories: small molecule materials, polymer materials and rare earth luminescent materials.

From the perspective of the production process of luminous materials, there are four steps:

1.First, organic synthesis of chemical raw materials into intermediates or monomer crude products;

2.Then the OLED monomer is synthesized;

3.Further synthesis of pre-sublimation materials or sublimation materials;

4. Finally, it is evaporated and plated on the substrate by the panel manufacturer to form the OLED organic light-emitting material layer.

According to relevant statistics, at present, there are nearly 40 enterprises engaged in OLED related materials production in China, which can be said that the development momentum is booming. But among them can supply material for the panel is little however.

According to market research, Japanese manufacturers are the main suppliers of small molecule luminescent materials, such as Japan's mitsui chemical, mitsubishi chemical and other enterprises, accounting for about 80% of the market share.

Polymer materials are mainly developed by European and American manufacturers, mainly covion, British CDT, American dupont and other enterprises.

The main reason for the dilemma of localization of OLED terminal materials is that OLED terminal materials involve many patents, which are mainly in the hands of European, American, Japanese and Korean enterprises. Domestic enterprises start late in the research and development of terminal materials, and lack of key material patents, which limits the development of monomer materials and terminal materials manufacturing technology.

Domestic OLED material enterprises have no core and independent patents. Without authorization, domestic OLED terminal materials and panels cannot enter the international market.

And in the domestic market, the industry revealed that the domestic market is more complex, although there is no patent, but still a panel factory will purchase copy material, for trial mass production and small-scale mass production. Therefore, the intermediates and monomer crude products that supply OLED materials have become the main participation of domestic enterprises.

Domestic suppliers of OLED intermediates and monomer crude products, including wanrun, xi 'an ruilian, puyang huicheng, Beijing agraya and jilin aolide, have realized mass production and entered the global supply chain of OLED materials. The main industry barrier for OLED intermediates and monomer crude products is the recognition of downstream manufacturers, who have entered the OLED supply chain to benefit from the rapid growth in OLED demand.

China has achieved a leap from 0 to 1 in OLED field from basic materials to landing applications. The real difficulty is to realize the transformation from 1 to N. At this time, the government and enterprises need to be pathfinders together.

For the government, it is necessary to solve the investment demand of enterprise industrialization in a proper way and cultivate the leading enterprises with international competitiveness. For domestic enterprises, from the development of materials to the development of the market, they should take reasonable measures to avoid intellectual property risks.