Canon developed a new QD-OLED display material: using lead instead of rare earth metals, the cost is reduced by 99%.

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizen OC_Formula for clue delivery! CTOnews.com Canon has developed an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel material that does not use rare earth metals and plans to commercialize the technology within a few years, Nikkei News reported on May 29.

The new material is quantum dot QD-OLED, tiny semiconductor particles with a diameter of 1 nanometer. When irradiated with light or injected with an electric current, the particles emit bright colors.

Other quantum dot displays are already used in high-end OLED TVs, but they can't get rid of rare metals, such as Samsung Electronics, which uses the compound indium phosphide. (CTOnews.com Note: Indium is a rare metal, production is very small, mainly produced in China.)

Canon's new QD-OLED material will use lead instead of indium phosphide, which is easily available from recycled raw materials from "urban mines," Samsung reported. Canon aims to commercialize the material by establishing mass production techniques in the mid-2020s (around 2025).

Lead doesn't perform as well as indium, but Canon has designed a compound that claims to be as durable as indium phosphide by using its expertise in composite materials such as office equipment toner and ink, with material costs expected to be reduced to one percent of Samsung's QD-OLED.