Sekisui Plastics Co., Ltd. has announced the development of new polymer particles that control a potentially health-damaging range of blue light emitted by LEDs. The company expects to add the particles to its Techpolymer product lineup, use them for conventional applications such as liquid crystal displays and luminous sources, and develop new markets.

1. Development background

Fluorescent lamps were used as conventional light sources, but they have been increasingly replaced by LEDs in recent years. As a result, our living environment now contains strong light in the wavelength range of 380-500 nm. Light in this range is blue, visible light, and as its wavelength is short, it has a high energy level. There are concerns that looking at blue light for an extended period of time may cause retina damage, eyestrain, deterioration of eyesight, age-related macular degeneration, sleeping disorder, and various other adverse effects.

To deal with these issues, we have developed new particles that filter out the blue light emitted by LEDs.

2. Features

Conventional applications were mainly films that used simple pigments. Sekisui Plastics has now successfully developed pigment-containing particles. These particles have the following features:

(1) This new type of particle can filter out blue light, while maintaining the light diffusion properties of Techpolymer.

(2) By using these particles, the percentage of blue light filtered out can be arbitrarily controlled, up to a maximum of 60%.

(3) This technology can be applied to the manufacturing of particles containing additives other than pigments.

Compared to the conventional acrylic particles, Blue Light Cut Particles filter out blue light.

Examples of fields of application

Blue Light Cut Particles can be coated onto films to arbitrarily control the percentage of blue light altered out.

Lineup of particles

These particles can be adjusted to constant particle size distribution, and thus can be used in a variety of optical applications.

3. Future development

In the future, we will develop applications such as surface protection films for smartphones, tablet PCs, and other products in the field of LED liquid crystal displays, and lighting covers and liquid crystal panel materials in the field of LED lighting.