EU project to investigate mass production.

An EU-funded project is looking to take intelligent packaging from buzz-concept to reality. The three-year, Ј850,000 project aims to improve the knowledge of organic light emitting device (OLED) materials, so that in the future they might be used in packaging to convey messages about the contents. Coordinated by the UK’s University of Bath, the Modelling Electroactive Conjugated Materials at the Multiscale (MODECOM) project will investigate the mass production of OLEDs, which are polymer based.

Bath’s Dr Alison Walker said: “Success in achieving the goals of cheap, efficient and long lasting devices is essential as we must do everything we can to reduce our energy costs.”

Project partners, from the USA, China, Belgium, Italy and Denmark, will first calculate how chemical structure and impurities affect a device's performance, information that will be used to design more efficient and durable materials.

UK participants also include the University of Cambridge’s Optoelectronics Group and Cambridge Display Technology, Cambridge.