February Science and Technology Award, Professor Lee Jun-yeop of Sungkyunkwan University for Developing OLED with Triple Lifespan

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation announced on the 9th that Professor Lee Jun-yeop of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Polymer Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University has been selected as the February recipient of the Scientist of the Month Award. Professor Lee developed a technology that simultaneously improves the efficiency and lifespan of blue light-emitting devices, a representative challenge in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) research.

OLEDs are organic materials that emit light by themselves when stimulated electrically. They have excellent image quality, are thin and flexible, and are widely used as displays in advanced electronic devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, and TV screens. To produce vivid light, OLEDs require three types of light-emitting devices: red, green, and blue. Currently, red and green use high-efficiency, long-life phosphorescent materials, but blue high-efficiency phosphorescent materials have a short lifespan, so low-efficiency fluorescent materials are used.

Professor Lee's research team developed a new blue light-emitting material using compounds triazine and carbazole. Through optimization of device structure at a commercialization-ready level, they confirmed that efficiency doubled and lifespan tripled compared to existing materials. These research results were published in the international journal Nature Photonics in February last year. Over the past 16 years, Professor Lee has also published more than 550 papers related to OLED material and device development in SCI journals.

Professor Lee said, "The significance lies in developing proprietary materials and devices that can improve the efficiency and lifespan of blue organic light-emitting devices, which have faced commercialization difficulties due to low efficiency and short lifespan," adding, "We expect to accelerate localization and commercialization through securing a super-gap technology in the field of next-generation high-efficiency blue organic light-emitting materials and devices."

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