Noctiluca develops chemical materials
for ink-jet printing
Noctiluca, a technology company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and known for developing next-gen emitters for OLED displays, is expanding its portfolio and further commits to product development activities to be the first global high-performance materials provider with a solution for each layer of OLED display. – Almost every OLED manufacturer is currently involved in ink-jet printing (IJP) projects – big or small, out in the open or in stealth mode. Progress of tech companies promises that printed OLED displays will appear in commercial applications on a bigger scale within the next few years” – claims Mateusz Nowak, the company’s CCO.
OLEDs: two production techniques
The majority of current OLEDs are produced with Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) technique by global producers, to make displays and lighting panels. This technology is widely used in TVs, smartphones, tablets, laptops and wearables applications. Noctiluca designs, develops, and manufactures next-generation emitters.
– Noctiluca develops 3rd, 4thand 5th generation OLED emitters and compounds for other stack layers for the PVD technique. Our emitters are – in simple terms – chemical compounds that emit light when induced with electricity, forming a key element of the displays – says Mariusz Bosiak, CEO of Noctiluca. – Now, in addition to this technology, we are expanding the portfolio to include ink and compounds for all layers of printed electronics stacks.
The printed electronics market is set for significant growth in the coming years. In 2025 it is expected to reach almost USD 20 billion, and with a strong annual growth rate of 17.42%, it is projected to reach almost USD 84 billion by 2034. Asia Pacific is emerging as a key player, with its market anticipated to hit USD 9.16 billion in 2025 and expand at an even faster pace of 18% per year. These figures, based on revenue projections with 2024 as the benchmark year, highlight the industry’s rapid evolution and increasing global demand.i
Ink-jet printed electronics
Ink-jet printing is a relatively new technique of displays’ production, gaining in popularity. It can be used not only for the production of OLED displays but also for other branches of printed electronics, including sensors, OPV, automotive, and medical devices.
Compared to current manufacturing methods, IJP production line are cheaper to set up, which makes them economically viable even for short product runs for a wide range of applications. Additionally, its great potential lays in diversity. Display printing setups are more agile and thus allow for more applications and more experimentation – thinner, lighter, foldable or rollable, small or huge devices – whatever is needed.
Noctiluca: next level of innovation
Noctiluca is already working on a range of chemical materials for printed electronics. Among them are Ink (a mix of several emitters and hosts) with white light emission and emitters with the red, green, and blue spectrum of light. Additionally, the company is developing components for other layers of the printing stack, such as EIL (electron-injecting material).
The obtained parameters of the TADF emitters for IJP technique synthesized by Noctiluca proved to match those of the TADF emitters used in the PVD method, which is a technological breakthrough in the industry. What’s important – progress has been achieved in all market-sought colors – red, green and blue.
Current offering
One of the compounds already available in Noctiluca’s offer is NCEIL. The company’s proprietary material, included in OLED stacks, improves the devices’ lifetime and simultaneously maintains other crucial parameters at a high level, such as turn-on or driving voltage. Due to its excellent photophysical and thermal properties, NCEIL can be used in PVD techniques and printed electronics.
In addition to Noctiluca’s proprietary compounds, the company also offers other compounds that, due to their properties, can be used in IJP techniques. Such compound is Spiro-OMeTAD, which, thanks to its properties, is an excellent HTL (Hole Transport Layer) widely used in various deposition techniques, including the IJP. This compound is an extremely versatile material that, beyond photovoltaics, can also find applications in energy storage, flexible electronics, optoelectronics, and chemical and biological sensors.
– Ink-jet printing technology for OLED displays have seen significant progress. There are challenges to overcome, but with ongoing research and development, and great results achieved on this field, also by our company, we believe it holds great promise, and we should expect increasing number of consumer applications appear on the market in coming years”– concludes Bosiak.