Issue 19, 2020

Green and stable processing of organic light-emitting diodes from aqueous nanodispersions

Abstract

The current factors stopping the up-scaled production of printed thin-film electronics are the flammable and environmentally hazardous solvents used to dissolve the organic semiconductors. Particularly in the case of large-area coating, the development of toxic and flammable vapour during coating and drying poses serious health and safety risks. Processing the active materials from aqueous nanodispersions therefore offers a highly attractive alternative. In contrast to thin-film organic photovoltaics (OPVs), nanoparticle-based organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have so far received little attention. The very high electric field (∼0.1 GV m−1) poses rather “stringent” requirements regarding the topology, integrity and chemistry of the active layer, seemingly difficult to achieve using aqueous nanodispersions. In this work we show that it can be done. We present polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) with active layers processed from nanodispersions. Through thorough optimization of the particle preparation and casting procedures, we obtain smooth, dense and intergral light-emitting nanoparticle films compatible with stable PLED operation. The performance of the nanoparticle PLEDs is on par with that of solution-cast reference devices. The devices exhibit low leakage current and turn-on voltage, no sign of degradation through voltage cycling, no current hysteresis and similar efficiencies.

Graphical abstract: Green and stable processing of organic light-emitting diodes from aqueous nanodispersions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Jan 2020
Accepted
26 Mar 2020
First published
27 Mar 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2020,8, 6528-6535

Green and stable processing of organic light-emitting diodes from aqueous nanodispersions

A. H. Ribeiro, A. Fakih, B. van der Zee, L. Veith, G. Glaser, A. Kunz, K. Landfester, P. W. M. Blom and J. J. Michels, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2020, 8, 6528 DOI: 10.1039/D0TC00498G

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