Germany chemicals and pharmaceuticals producer Merck KGaA and UK-based Nanoco Group, a specialist in developing and manufacturing cadmium-free quantum dots and other nanomaterials, have signed a non-exclusive worldwide material supply and licensing agreement allowing Merck to market and later manufacture Nanoco’s cadmium-free quantum dots. Product will be drawn from Nanoco’s expanded production plant in Runcorn, UK.

Financial details of the agreement are not being disclosed; however, Nanoco will receive a license fee and royalties based on Merck’s sales of the Nanoco cadmium-free quantum dots and the volumes it eventually manufactures.

Merck said the agreement is in line with its strategy to sustainably secure its position as the global market and technology leader in display materials. With cadmium-free quantum dots, a remarkable increase in the color range and a significant reduction in power consumption can be achieved, the company said.

„These cadmium-free quantum dots are eco-friendly and also complement our product portfolio for the display industry,” said Walter Galinat, member of the Merck executive board and CEO of Performance Materials. “The license agreement with Nanoco will strengthen our position in quantum materials research, for which we laid the foundations by acquiring Qlight Nanotech of Israel last year,“ he added.

Merck said quantum materials offer a substantial additional benefit when used as color converters in the light source of liquid crystal displays. In conventional displays, the colors blue, green and red are filtered out of the original white light of the LED light source, thereby losing a significant amount of light. Because a blue LED in combination with red and green quantum materials only generates the blue, green and red light that is perfectly transmitted through the filters, it said there is much less absorption, thus increasing the display’s brightness, reducing electricity consumption and leading to much purer and potentially stronger colors.

In the display market, Manchester-headquartered Nanoco already has non-exclusive manufacturing and marketing licensing agreements with Dow Chemical and The Wah Hong Corporation of Taiwan. UK. In addition to the production facilities in Runcorn, it has a US subsidiary in Concord, Massachsetts. The company also sells directly to the display sector and other markets, including lighting, and has business development executives based in Japan and Korea.