Transparent and color-tunable organic light-emitting diodes with highly balanced emission to both sides

Future lighting applications will strongly benefit from transparent luminescent devices. Here, we demonstrate transparent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), which provide real-time adjustment of the emission color. Making use of the AC/DC concept, two stacked subunits can be addressed independently via an AC signal. Combining blue and yellow emission leads to the possibility to tune the emitted color between deep blue over cold white and warm white to yellow on both emission sides. For such highly complex device architectures, the thickness of each layer needs to be adjusted carefully in order to achieve balanced and efficient emission in both directions. Therefore, optical simulations are carried out to optimize the OLED. Based on these simulations, we present transparent, indium-free OLEDs that achieve a luminous efficacy of 8.7 lm/W in bottom direction and 9.7 lm/W in top direction at a brightness level of 1000 cd/m² for warm white emission and a peak transmission of 56%. Using an emitter combination providing red, green, and blue emission, we were able to achieve a high color-rendering index (CRI) of 84, which further expands the range of possible applications for this promising device concept.     

Device Physics of White Polymer Light‐Emitting Diodes

The charge transport and recombination in white‐emitting polymer light‐ emitting diodes (PLEDs) are studied. The PLED investigated has a single emissive layer consisting of a copolymer in which a green and red dye are incorporated in a blue backbone. From single‐carrier devices the effect of the green‐ and red‐emitting dyes on the hole and electron transport is determined. The red dye acts as a deep electron trap thereby strongly reducing the electron transport. By incorporating trap‐assisted recombination for the red emission and bimolecular Langevin recombination for the blue emission, the current and light output of the white PLED can be consistently described. The color shift of single‐layer white‐emitting PLEDs can be explained by the different voltage dependencies of trap‐assisted and bimolecular recombination.     

White LED based on polyfluorene Co-polymers blend on plastic substrate

We report on high-performance, white light emission from polyfluorene co-polymers blend and study of the opto-electrical properties of polymer blend light-emitting devices (PLEDs) fabricated on plastic substrate. Our results show that efficient white light emission via energy transfer, producing higher device efficiencies and luminance in comparison with the conventional single PLEDs, can be realized by blending carrier donor (host) and acceptor (guest) organic polyfluorene co-polymers. A maximum luminance of /spl sim/7400 cd/m/sup 2/ was achieved at 13 V with Internationale de L'Eclairage coordinates of (0.33, 0.33). Maximum emission efficiency of /spl sim/2.0 cd/A and power efficiency of /spl sim/1.1 lm/W are obtained for white light PLEDs on plastic substrate.     

Conjugated polyelectrolyte-assisted vacuum-free transfer-printing of silver nanowire network for top electrode of polymer light-emitting diodes

We report vacuum-free transfer-printing of silver nanowire (AgNW) network film as a top electrode of polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) using conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE) interfacial layer. AgNW network is delivered from a donor substrate to the desired area of the devices through an elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold stamp. The application of CPE layer with an appropriate thickness on the surface of AgNW and light-emitting polymer (LEP) films provides not only good adhesion between the organic and metal layers but also lowering of the work-function of AgNW electrode for better electron injection at LEP/AgNW interface. PLEDs with laminated AgNW top electrode at the optimized condition show the maximum device efficiencies of 3.81 cd A⁻¹ and 2.99 lm W⁻¹ at 4 V, which are comparable to those of PLEDs with Al cathode.     

Maximizing Alq/sub 3/ OLED internal and external efficiencies: charge balanced device structure and color conversion outcoupling lenses

In this paper, we report bright, efficient Alq/sub 3/-based [tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum] organic light-emitting diode (OLED) structures that incorporate hemispherical lenses for increased output power efficiency. The 6-layer hybrid (polymer/small molecule) OLED structure contains two spin-coated polymer layers and four thermally evaporated small molecule layers. This structure results in balanced charge injection, thus leading to a more efficient device. The use of index-matched transparent lenses resulted in luminous and external quantum efficiency of 7.5 lm/W and 8%, respectively. The size and shape of the lens was used to control the angular power distribution. Lenses incorporating color conversion media were used to achieve high OLED efficiency in various colors. Saturated yellow, orange, and red devices with external quantum efficiencies as high /spl sim/4% were obtained from this approach.     

Waterproof,Breathable, and Antibacterial Self‐Powered e‐Textiles Based on Omniphobic Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Multifunctional electronic textiles (e‐textiles) incorporating miniaturized electronic devices will pave the way toward a new generation of wearable devices and human–machine interfaces. Unfortunately, the development of e‐textiles is subject to critical challenges, such as battery dependence, breathability, satisfactory washability, and compatibility with mass production techniques. This work describes a simple and cost‐effective method to transform conventional garments and textiles into waterproof, breathable, and antibacterial e‐textiles for self‐powered human–machine interfacing. Combining embroidery with the spray‐based deposition of fluoroalkylated organosilanes and highly networked nanoflakes, omniphobic triboelectric nanogenerators (R^F‐TENGs) can be incorporated into any fiber‐based textile to power wearable devices using energy harvested from human motion. R^F‐TENGs are thin, flexible, breathable (air permeability 90.5 mm s^?1), inexpensive to fabricate (<0.04$ cm^?2), and capable of producing a high power density (600 µW cm^?2). E‐textiles based on R^F‐TENGs repel water, stains, and bacterial growth, and show excellent stability under mechanical deformations and remarkable washing durability under standard machine‐washing tests. Moreover, e‐textiles based on R^F‐TENGs are compatible with large‐scale production processes and exhibit high sensitivity to touch, enabling the cost‐effective manufacturing of wearable human–machine interfaces.     

Development of a new diindenopyrazine–benzotriazole copolymer for multifunctional application in organic field-effect transistors,polymer solar cells and light-emitting diodes

A new donor–acceptor (D?A) copolymer (PIPY–DTBTA) containing 6,12-dihydro-diindeno[1,2-b;1′,2′-e]pyrazine donor and benzotriazole acceptor was synthesized and characterized for multifunctional applications in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), polymer solar cells (PSCs) and polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs). The polymer exhibits high molecular weights, excellent film-forming ability, a deep HOMO energy level, and good solution processability. Solution-processed thin film OFETs based on this polymer revealed good p-type characteristic with a high hole mobility up to 0.0521 cm² V^?1 s^?1. Bulk-heterojunction PSCs comprising this polymer and PC₆₁BM gave a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.77%. The single-layer PLEDs based on PIPY–DTBTA emitted a yellow–red light with a maximum brightness of 385 cd m^?2 at the turn-on voltage of 6 V.     

Inkjet Process for Conductive Patterning on Textiles: Maintaining Inherent Stretchability and Breathability in Knit Structures

In this work, a novel technique of inkjet printing e‐textiles with particle free reactive silver inks on knit structures is developed. The inkjet‐printed e‐textiles are highly conductive, with a sheet resistance of 0.09 Ω sq^‐1, by means of controlling the number of print passes, annealing process, and textile structures. It is notable that the inkjet process allows textiles to maintain its inherent properties, including stretchability, flexibility, breathability, and fabric hand after printing process. This is achieved by formation of ultrathin silver layers surrounding individual fibers. The silver layers coated on fibers range from 250 nm to 2.5 µm, maintaining the size of interstices and flexibility of fibers. The annealing process, structure of fibers, and printed layers significantly influence the electrical conductivity of the patterned structures on textiles. Outstanding electrical conductivity and durability are demonstrated by optimizing print passes, controlling textile structures, and incorporating an in situ annealing process. The electrical resistance dependence on the strain rate of the textiles is examined, showing the ability to maintain electrical conductivity to retain light‐emitting diode use, stable more than 500 consecutive strain cycles. Most importantly, inkjet‐printed e‐textiles maintain their characteristic washability, breathability, and fabric hands for applications in wearable technology.     

High-efficiency phosphorescent polymer light-emitting devices

In this paper, we describe the performance of polymer light-emitting devices (PLEDs) that are based on phosphorescent polymers involving a carbazole unit and an iridium-complex unit. The PLEDs exhibit red, green or blue emission, depending on the phosphorescent polymer used in the emissive layer. We achieved highly external quantum efficiencies of 5.5%, 9% and 3.5% in respective red, green and blue PLEDs by selecting the electron transport material for the emissive layer and optimizing the content of the iridium-complex unit in the phosphorescent polymer chain. Furthermore, we demonstrated white emission in PLEDs by using blue-phosphorescent and red-phosphorescent polymers. An external quantum efficiency of 4.5% was obtained for this emission.     

Color stable multilayer all-phosphor white organic light-emitting diodes with excellent color quality

The color stability of all-phosphor white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) is crucial and remains a challenge that must be overcome before the wide application of phosphor WOLEDs technology. Besides, color stable all-phosphor WOLEDs should also offer high color rendering index (CRI) and ideal correlated color temperature (CCT) simultaneously to make the technology competitive against other alternative technologies such as inorganic LEDs. In this work, we demonstrate a series of color stable all-phosphor WOLEDs with two emitters (blue and yellow), three emitters (blue, green/red, and yellow) and four emitters (blue, green, yellow and red) by introducing tris (phenylpyrazole) Iridium [Ir(ppz)₃] as interlayer. The results show that appropriate thickness of Ir(ppz)₃ interlayer not only can control exciton distribution in the emission zone, but also can improve the spectra stability. In particular, one efficient four-color device with double-interlayer yields fairly high CRI of 92 and 90, ideal CCT of 3703 K and 3962 K at illumination-relevant luminance of 100 cd m^–2 and 1000 cd m^–2, respectively, which is very appropriate to indoor lighting application. By further employing appropriate hosts to regulate the carrier injection, ultrahigh stable four-color devices with applicable CRI are finally achieved.     

Wearable Energy Generating and Storing Textile Based on Carbon Nanotube Yarns

The challenges of textiles that can generate and store energy simultaneously for wearable devices are to fabricate yarns that generate electrical energy when stretched, yarns that store this electrical energy, and textile geometries that facilitate these functions. To address these challenges, this research incorporates highly stretchable electrochemical yarn harvesters, where available mechanical strains are large and electrochemical energy storing yarns are achieved by weaving. The solid‐state yarn harvester provides a peak power of 5.3 W kg^?1 for carbon nanotubes. The solid‐state yarn supercapacitor provides stable performance when dynamically deformed by bending and stretching, for example. A textile configuration that consists of harvesters, supercapacitors, and a Schottky diode is produced and stores as much electrical energy as is needed by a serial or parallel connection of the harvesters or supercapacitors. This textile can be applied as a power source for health care devices or other wearable devices and be self‐powered sensors for detecting human motion.     

Electrochromic Polymer‐Dispersed Liquid‐Crystal Film: A New Bifunctional Device

Polymer‐dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) are liquid‐crystal dispersions within a polymer matrix. These films can be changed from an opaque to a transparent state by applying a suitable alternating‐current electric field. PDLCs have attracted the interest of researchers for their applications as light shutters, smart windows, and active displays. For such applications, electrochromic devices, which change color as a result of electrochemical reactions, have also become a recent focus of research. Herein, we report our preliminary results on bifunctional devices based on PDLCs that host electrochromic guest molecules. Such devices allow both an independent and fast switching from a scattering opaque state to a transmissive transparent state owing to liquid‐crystal reorientation and a color change from white (pale yellow) to dark blue, due to either oxidation or reduction of the electrochromic molecules.     

Highly Efficient Greenish‐Yellow Phosphorescent Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes Based on Interzone Exciton Transfer

Phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes (PHOLEDs) have undergone tremendous growth over the past two decades. Indeed, they are already prevalent in the form of mobile displays, and are expected to be used in large‐area flat panels recently. To become a viable technology for next generation solid‐state light source however, PHOLEDs face the challenge of achieving concurrently a high color rendering index (CRI) and a high efficiency at high luminance. To improve the CRI of a standard three color white PHOLED, one can use a greenish‐yellow emitter to replace the green emitter such that the gap in emission wavelength between standard green and red emitters is eliminated. However, there are relatively few studies on greenish‐yellow emitters for PHOLEDs, and as a result, the performance of greenish‐yellow PHOLEDs is significantly inferior to those emitting in the three primary colors, which are driven strongly by the display industry. Herein, a newly synthesized greenish‐yellow emitter is synthesized and a novel device concept is introduced featuring interzone exciton transfer to considerably enhance the device efficiency. In particular, high external quantum efficiencies (current efficiencies) of 21.5% (77.4 cd/A) and 20.2% (72.8 cd/A) at a luminance of 1000 cd/m² and 5000 cd/m², respectively, have been achieved. These efficiencies are the highest reported to date for greenish‐yellow emitting PHOLEDs. A model for this unique design is also proposed. This design could potentially be applied to enhance the efficiency of even longer wavelength yellow and red emitters, thereby paving the way for a new avenue of tandem white PHOLEDs for solid‐state lighting.     

A Tunable Polarization Field for Enhanced Performance of Flexible BaTiO3@TiO2 Nanofiber Photodetector by Suppressing Dark Current to pA Level

The flexible titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanofibers (NFs) film are promising candidates for high-performance wearable optoelectronic devices. However, the TiO₂ ultraviolet photodetectors (UV PDs) generally suffer from low photosensitivity, which limits the practical applications. Herein, a TiO₂ (TO) NFs film flexible photodetector integrated by ferroelectric BaTiO₃ (BTO) NFs is developed via electrospinning technology with double sprinklers and in situ heat treatment. Compared with TO NFs PD with poor on/off ratio ≈44, the BTO@TO NFs PD-2 exhibits an excellent on/off ratio of ≈1.5  × 10⁴ due to the dramatically restrained dark current. The ultralow dark current (pA level) is attributed to the depletion of photogenerated carriers by the space high-resistance state induced by the downward self-polarization field in ferroelectric BaTiO₃ NFs. The ferroelectric domain with larger downward orientation in polarized BTO@TO NFs exhibits stronger self-polarization field to modify the directional transport of photogenerated carriers and enhances the band bending level, which improves the photocurrent of device. The special structure woven by ferroelectric nanofiber with self-polarization will provide a promising approach for improving the performance of flexible photodetectors.     

荧光粉配比对大功率白光LED发光特性的影响

利用黄色、红色和黄绿色3种荧光粉混合的方法制备了一系列大功率平面发光LED光源,深入研究了黄色、红色和黄绿色3种荧光粉分别对大功率白光LED光源的发光效率、显色指数以及色温的影响规律。研究结果表明,随着黄色荧光粉含量的增加,其发光效率明显提高,最高可达140 lm/W,而显色指数和色温略有下降。随着红色荧光粉含量的增加,其显色指数明显提高,最高可达85,而发光效率和色温明显降低。随着黄绿色荧光粉含量的增加,其发光效率、显色指数以及色温均不同程度地略有下降,但是其对大功率白光LED的色容差起到很好的调节作用。     

Highly efficient electrophosphorescent polymer light-emitting devices

We report a high performance polymer electroluminescent device based on a bi-layer structure consisting of a hole transporting layer (poly(vinylcarbazole)) and an electron transporting layer poly(9,9-bis(octyl)-fluorene-2,7-diyl) (BOc-PF) doped with platinum(II)-2,8,12,17-tetraethyl-3,7,13,18-tetramethylporphyrin (PtOX). The devices show red electrophosphorescence with a peak emission at 656 nm and a full width at half maximum of 18 nm, consistent with exclusive emission from the PtOX dopants. BOc-PF emission is not observed at any bias. The required doping levels for these phosphorescence-based polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) are significantly lower than for other reported phosphorescence-based PLEDs or organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). A doping level of 1% or more give an LED with exclusive PtOX emission, whereas related PLEDs or OLEDs doped with phosphorescent dopants require doping levels of >5% to achieve exclusive dye dopant emission. The device external efficiency was enhanced from 1% to 2.3% when doped with PtOX. The lower doping level in BOc-PF/PtOX based PLEDs decreases triplet–triplet annihilation in these devices, leading to quantum efficiency that is only weakly dependent on current density. The luminescence transient decay time for this device is 500 μs.     

Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes: Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes with a White‐Emitting Molecule: Emission Mechanism and Device Characteristics (Adv. Funct. Mater. 4/2011)

The unique and unprecedented electroluminescence behavior of the white‐emitting molecule 3‐(1‐(4‐(4‐(2‐(2‐hydroxyphenyl)‐4,5‐diphenyl‐1H‐imidazol‐1‐yl)phenoxy)phenyl)‐4,5‐diphenyl‐1H‐imidazol‐2‐yl)naphthalen‐2‐ol (W1), fluorescence emission from which is controlled by the excited‐state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) is investigated. W1 is composed of covalently linked blue‐ and yellow‐color emitting ESIPT moieties between which energy transfer is entirely frustrated. It is demonstrated that different emission colors (blue, yellow, and white) can be generated from the identical emitter W1 in organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) devices. Charge trapping mechanism is proposed to explain such a unique color‐tuned emission from W1. Finally, the device structure to create a color‐stable, color reproducible, and simple‐structured white organic light‐emitting diode (WOLED) using W1 is investigated. The maximum luminance efficiency, power efficiency, and luminance of the WOLED were 3.10 cd A^?1, 2.20 lm W^?1, 1 092 cd m^?2, respectively. The WOLED shows white‐light emission with the Commission Internationale de l′Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates (0.343, 0.291) at a current level of 10 mA cm^?2. The emission color is high stability, with a change of the CIE chromaticity coordinates as small as (0.028, 0.028) when the current level is varied from 10 to 100 mA cm^?2.     

High-efficiency and good color quality white light-emitting devices based on polymer blend

Here we report efficient and color-stable white polymer light-emitting devices (WPLEDs) based on a newly synthesized efficient blue emitting polymer poly[(9,9-bis(4-(2-ethylhexyloxy)phenyl)fluorene)-co-(3,7-dibenziothiene-S,S-dioxide10)] (PPF-3,7SO10) which dually function as host material and blue emitter, with appropriate blending ratio with two typical electroluminescent polymers, green emitting poly[2-(4-(3′,7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-phenyl)-p-phenylenevinylene] (P-PPV) and orange–red emitter poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH–PPV) with appropriate blending ratio. In a single active layer WPLEDs with a blending ratio of 100:0.8:0.5 (B:G:R) by weight, white light emission with CIE coordinate of (0.34, 0.35) was realized. The resulted device shows a high luminous efficiency (LE) of 8.7 cd A^?1, which could be further enhanced to 14.0 cd A^?1 with incorporation of a thin hole transporting layer poly (vinylcarbazole) (PVK) at the anode side. The obtained luminous efficiency is listed as one of the highest reported value for WPLEDs based on all fluorescent polymer emitters. The devices had appropriate color temperature of 2500–6500 K and high color rendering index (CRI) of 72–79, and are characterized with stable electroluminescent spectra upon change of current density, stress and annealing at high temperature, thus can find application in solid-state lighting.     

Thermally Stable Silver Nanowire–Polyimide Transparent Electrode Based on Atomic Layer Deposition of Zinc Oxide on Silver Nanowires

The performance of a flexible transparent conductive electrode with extremely smooth topography capable of withstanding thermal processing at 300 °C for at least 6 h with little change in sheet resistance and optical clarity is reported. In depth investigation is performed on atomic layer deposition (ALD) deposited ZnO on Ag nanowires (NWs) with regard to thermal and atmospheric corrosion stability. The ZnO coated nanowire networks are embedded within the surface of a polyimide matrix, and the <2 nm roughness freestanding ­electrode is used to fabricate a white polymer light emitting diode (PLED). PLEDs obtained using the ZnO‐AgNW‐polyimide substrate exhibit comparable performance to indium tin oxide (ITO)/glass based devices, verifying its efficacy for use in optoelectronic devices requiring high processing temperatures.     

Red polymer light-emitting devices based on dye-dispersed poly (9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole)

A polymer-organic host-guest emitter (POHGE) system for obtaining polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) with pure red emission and high luminance is proposed. The POHGE system was prepared by the fluorescent dye 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetra-methyljulolidy-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) doped in green-emitting polymer poly (9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) (BTF8). A photoluminescence (PL) quenching phenomenon was observed owing to the higher doping amount of DCJTB dopant. In this study, the red DCJTB dopant emits with high luminance and without concentration quenching when the host BTF8 emitting layer is doped with a small amount of the red guest DCJTB dopant. An optimal amount of DCCJTB dopant was obtained at 2 mg. Devices with a configuration of indium tin oxide (ITO)/poly (ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/BTF8:DCJTB/Ca/Al were fabricated. This device achieved an electroluminescence (EL) efficiency of 1.33 cd/A at 6 V. The emission area is 1.5 × 0.5 cm². The devices show the red light emission with a peak at about 630 nm. The color coordinate in Commission Internationale d’Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity is at x = 0.64 and y = 0.36.