Recycling is not only better for the environment. It could also make some of the best OLED TVs cheaper.
That’s where the news comes from Samsung screenthat says it has developed technology that can very efficiently recycle quantum dot ink that would be lost during the production process. That’s a crucial part of QD-OLED panels, and the new technology means it can now recover and process 80% of the ink that would normally be lost during production. That, combined with other developments, should mean more affordable QD-OLED TVs.
Why Samsung is thinking about ink
Making a QD-OLED display takes a lot of ink. As Samsung explains, the quantum dot layer is created using an inkjet printing process in which red and green QD inks are ejected through micrometer-sized nozzles.
Until now, about 20% of that ink stuck in the nozzles and was then thrown away. When you consider how many panels Samsung makes, that means a lot of waste and a lot of money. So recovering and reusing four-fifths of it means lower costs.
The new recycling process is not a forward-looking idea; it is currently used on Samsung’s QD-OLED production line. And according to Samsung, the recycled QD ink is just as good as the original: it “undergoes advanced synthesis technology that revitalizes its purity and optical properties,” and delivers the same performance as the original QD ink.
More improvements are coming, Samsung says: it’s aimed at improving productivity and yield of QD-OLED panel production in general, which are key factors in panel prices on the best TVs and the best gaming monitors (where QD-OLED is also proving to be a big hit). The more efficient the production, the lower the cost per panel – and the lower the cost of the TV in which it ends up.
The recycling process won’t make a big change on its own, but combined with a lot of other small changes we could get the more budget QD-OLED we were hoping for. In the meantime, if you want a cheaper QD-OLED, you’ll have to keep an eye on the best Black Friday OLED TV deals.