Solution-processed electron-only tandem polymer light-emitting diodes for broad wavelength light emission

Abstract

Polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) have been of great interest for flexible mobile displays and large area solid-state lighting due to the possibility of achieving low production costs using solution processes combined with various printing technologies. Although monochromatic operation of PLEDs with high luminous efficiency and device stability has been achieved using numerous strategies, the development of color-tunable PLEDs capable of emitting a broad range of light upon the application of external stimuli still remains challenging. Here, we present a solution-processed broad range color-tunable tandem PLED of inverted and regular light emitting units (LEUs) stacked in series sharing a floating polymer electrode as a charge injection layer between two LEUs. Fine and broad wavelength color control from pure blue to pure orange is achieved when an AC field is applied with different positive-to-negative polarity heights in our tandem PLED. Our AC-driven tandem PLEDs offer a facile route to color-tunable polymer EL devices with a maximum current efficiency (CE) and luminance of 2.5 cd A⁻¹ and 1300 cd m⁻² for blue emission under DC reverse and 6.7 cd A⁻¹ and 6000 cd m⁻² for orange emission under DC forward as well as 3.1 cd A⁻¹ and 6000 cd m⁻² for white emission under AC, respectively.