South Korea's Samsung Display said on Monday it developed technology to recycle quantum dot (QD) ink, aiming to improve cost competitiveness in its quantum dot-organic light emitting diode (QD-OLED) production.
The company said the new technology allows the recovery of 80% of QD ink discarded during the QD-OLED manufacturing process, potentially reducing costs by more than 10 billion won ($7.4 million) annually.
The QD emissive layer is a core component of QD-OLEDs, formed through inkjet printing.
Red and green QD inks are dispensed through microscopic nozzles in micrometer-sized droplets during this process.
The company said about 20% of the ink remains in the nozzles and has previously been discarded.
To address this, Samsung Display formed a task force last December, bringing together manufacturing, development, R&D, environmental safety, and procurement teams.
In August, the task force succeeded in developing a facility to recycle the QD ink.
Samsung Display explained that recycled ink undergoes a high-precision synthesis process to enhance purity and optical characteristics, achieving performance equivalent to the original ink.
The recycled ink has been in use on mass production lines since October.