Samsung Display and TSK Corporation jointly develop blue OLED materials based on iron catalyst technology

Japan-based TSK Corporation announced that it is collaborating with Samsung Display for the full-scale development of blue OLED display materials, based on the company's iron catalyst technology. The two companies are developing host and electron blocking materials.

TSK explains that in most OLED synthesis, palladium catalysts are used. But palladium is a rare metal primarily sourced from Russia and South Africa, and it is also expensive and polluting. TSK developed a proprietary, environmentally friendly chemical process that uses iron, a naturally abundant metal, as a catalyst in place of the palladium.

TSK says that beyond the advantages of using iron over palladium, its process enables significant simplification of reaction steps (step-saving synthesis), and also allows the construction of molecular structures that were previously difficult to synthesize using palladium. TSK has already succeeded in synthesizing an original compound that shows promise as a key structural component of OLED materials, with performance evaluated as exceeding that of existing products.