Idemitsu began research and development of organic EL materials in 1985 focusing on new business possibilities beyond the boundaries of petroleum and petrochemicals. While developing new markets, we continued to develop technologies for longevity and higher efficiency to meet user demands, and we also developed blue-light emitting materials, which were the final frontier of organic EL light emission among the three primary colors of light (red, green, and blue). At an international display exhibition in 1997, we exhibited a prototype of the world's first organic EL TV, which attracted attention for presenting the potential of organic EL.
We commercialized organic EL materials in 1999, and now manufacture them at our manufacturing plants in Japan, South Korea, and China. We are also developing our business globally by establishing a development base in Switzerland.
Received the Imperial Invention Prize in 2018
In 2018, we received the Imperial Invention Prize, the highest award of the National Commendation for Invention. This is because the putting into practical use of blue light-emitting elements has contributed to the commercialization of organic EL displays for mobile devices and large TVs.
Idemitsu will continue to contribute to the international market by creating unique technologies through innovative research and development and intellectual property activities, and by delivering superior products and technologies to the world.
In 2022, Idemitsu developed a novel light-emitting method using a stack of light-emitting layers in fluorescent blue organic EL elements, achieving the world's highest level of light-emitting efficiency and longevity, and the technology was selected as the best paper at the "Display Week 2022" symposium organized by the Society of Information Display.
This technology, which simultaneously achieves higher light-emitting efficiency and longevity than conventional products, contributes to the reduction of environmental impact by power saving and improving the product life cycle of organic EL displays.
