Organic and Large Area Electronics (OLAE) is a new branch of electronics that works on conductive polymers, plastics, or small molecules. OLAE devices are made of carbon-based materials which are widely available, cheaper and less toxic than traditional silicon-based electronics.This emerging technology is ideal for applications that require flexibility and adaptability to large areas, particularly paper and plastic.
Their conformability for large-area manufacturing opens up implementations in industrial applications for energy harvesting, surface lighting, displays, wearables, biosensors, wearables, IoT, etc. Some examples are Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLED), the main building blocks of ultra-thin/rollable flatscreens and handheld displays, and Organic Photovoltaics (OPV), which are used for clean-energy generation.
OLAE technologies and components have experienced a remarkable increase in usage in recent years thanks to printed electronics technologies progress, which offer solutions to develop OLAE thinner, more power-efficient, flexible and lightweight devices. However, the manufacturing processes for these devices are difficult to adapt to mass production due to significant open challenges, such as stability and processability.
