Although many people think of LED lights as the future, here at Elemental, we think of them as the present. So what do we consider the future of lighting? OLEDs, that is to say Organic LEDs, as opposed to the LEDs we sell here, which are inorganic. But it does seem that OLEDs are already well on their way to entering mainstream culture and, if you are as tech-y as we are, you probably own an electronic device that uses them. Things like Mp3 players, PDAs, cell phones with touch screens, and the newest TVs commonly use Organic LEDs.

So what are they? First the similarities: both kinds of light are based on semiconductors, meaning, as it sounds, a material that sort of conducts electricity, as opposed to a straight conductor (like wire) or an insulator (like rubber.) Without going into the gory (and wiry) details, the fact that semiconductors have some resistance to electricity is essential to their ability to be modified for different uses, and in fact different kinds of semiconductors are produced by adding various impurities to the material.

The differences between LEDs and OLEDs are fairly simple: in LEDs, the semiconductor is made of inorganic crystals, usually silicon, while in Organic LEDs, it is made of some organic material. It turns out that organic material is much more flexible than inorganic, and allows for the molecules in it to interact with each other in more ways than one. An LED diode, after all, is just two wires that meet at a very small semiconductor in a plastic lens, so it produces a concentrated light. OLED material, on the other hand, is organic semiconductor material suspended throughout a thin layer of polymer, so the light it produces is much more even and diffuse.

You can even visualize the semiconductor layer as organic compounds “printed” onto the polymer in a grid, which also gives you an idea of how thin OLEDs are. This polymer layer is then just sandwiched between a clear front layer and a backing layer to produce OLED products. Although most OLEDs are now flat and rigid, the technology for flexible OLEDs (here comes another acronym: FOLEDs) is such that you’ll be able to buy, in the next few years, lighting fixtures and screens that resemble fabric.

Which brings us to the final point: Don’t worry! LEDs and OLEDs are not exactly in competition, they’re apples and oranges, so your LED strips and bulbs will not be obsolete in 5 years. LEDs will continue to become more powerful and efficient in focused lighting applications, and OLEDs may soon become lights that double as windows, walls, clothing, or furniture. OLEDs are not replacing LEDs, just offering a more expansive (yes, a pun) way to light things up!