Philips Research has revealed an OLED technology demonstrator that runs direct from 230V mains with no intervening power converter.
Although LEDs are catching the headlines for lighting, OLEDs are more likely to be the technology that replaces office fluorescent lighting in the long run because estimates for production cost are much lower.
Like LEDs, OLEDs are inherently a low-voltage technology.
Has Philips just connected multiple OLEDs in series?
"I wish it was as simple as that," Dr Dietrich Bertram, head of OLEDs at Philips, told Electronics Weekly. "There are two parts to what we have done: we do connect several in series to step up the voltage, and we have also changed the components inside the OLED itself."
Exactly what has gone on inside the OLED, Philips is not disclosing.
Bertram confirmed that each OLED is a series combination of red green and blue OLED cells, but would say no more.
Philips is already beginning to commercialise OLEDs with its Lumiblade engineering samples.
Philips Research has developed its AC-powered module in collaboration with the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, as part of the German government TOPAS 2012 project to develop OLED lighting.