Technical / Research

Researchers from Hanyang University, Gyeongsang National University, and Soongsil University have developed a high-efficiency soluble blue OLED emitter based on a hyperfluorescence architecture.

The new emitter platform uses a polymer/small-molecule hybrid emitting layer composed of a polymeric thermally TADF sensitizer and a narrowband MR-TADF emitter.

Researchers from Kyung Hee University, in collaboration with colleagues from Gachon University and TENTECH Inc., have developed a flexible OLED patch that shows promise for chronic dermatitis phototherapy treatment.

The researchers developed a device that includes a flexible OLED and flexible battery that exhibits excellent mechanical flexibility, adhering intimately to the skin while maintaining a safe temperature range of 20 °C at 5 mW/cm², stable operation for over 1,000 h, and high moisture resistance.

A team of researchers from the University of Michigan discovered that OLED emission is not evenly spread across the OLED device, but is rather centralized in local regions where electrical charge accumulates unevenly.

These small hotspots (sized a few tens of nanometers) can carry significantly higher current than surrounding areas, increasing the likelihood of faster degradation in the OLED device. In some cases, the local high current areas carry 10 to 100 times more charge than other regions. 

Researchers from Korea's KAIST institute, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Chicago and Suzhou University in China, have developed a new stretchable OLED electrode technology that enables higher performance under stretching conditions.

To enable this high performance (brightness) stretchable OLEDs, the researchers developed a hybrid liquid metal cathode. The electrode was deposited by stacking thin layers of liquid metal, and slight etching on the top layer. 

BOE announced that it has developed a new crease-less (or zero-line) foldable OLED display, which it brands as BOE Glaze Fold. BOE says that the new technology reduces the crease visibility (and feel) by over 40%.

The visible crease has been one of the major foldable OLED adoption hurdles. Earlier this year Samsung Display was first to demonstrate a crease-less foldable OLED. Reportedly, SDC's technology will be utilized by Samsung in their 2026 foldable smartphone - and also by Apple in their 2026 foldable iPhone.

BOE's crease-less OLED was enabled by a multi-neutral-layer architecture design, that performs better than the standard single-neutral-layer display. Using a gradient modulus design, the new multi-layer architecture helps the stress to be spread out on several layers, and so reduces the peak stress and finally stops the deformation that quickly happens with folding displays. 

Researchers from KAIST have developed an OLED-powered wearable (hat like) phototherapy device that has been proven to be effective in suppressing hair follicle cell aging, the main cause of hair loss progression. 

Phototherapy has been getting attention lately as an alternative to drug-based treatment of hair loss, but current devices are rigid and heavy. The new OLED based device, however, is light and flexible. It also emits more uniform compared to LED or laser based systems. 

NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories (STRL), in collaboration with Professor Hirohiko Fukagawa from Chiba University, has developed an OLED display device that can emit light while simultaneously harvest solar energy. NHK says that this is the first time that such a device has been developed, where it is capable of blue light emission.

The basic idea behind the new device is that it is capable of quickly alternating between emitting light and generating electricity. The device is also quite efficient in both its light emission and energy generation.

Researchers from Seoul National University, in collaboration with researchers from Drexel University have developed the world's most efficient (17% EQE) fully-stretchable OLED device, using an exciplex-assisted phosphorescent layer and MXene-contact stretchable electrodes.

In a fully stretchable OLED, all constituent layers exhibit intrinsic mechanical stretchability. Most reported stretchable displays rely on rigid light-emitting devices connected by stretchable interconnects, and these suffer from poor mechanical reliability at junctions under strain, limited skin conformability, and degradation in display resolution.

This is a guest article by Ole Carstensen, SCM

Blue OLEDs remain one of the most critical, and challenging, components in modern display and lighting technologies. As device architectures grow more complex and performance targets become more demanding, traditional trial-and-error development is no longer sufficient. Leading OLED innovators are increasingly turning to multiscale simulation as a strategic tool to guide material selection, device design, and lifetime optimization.

Modeling and simulations are not replacing experiments, but are accelerators: enabling faster decisions, deeper insight, and reduced development risk. At Software for Chemistry & Materials (SCM), we develop and support the Amsterdam Modeling Suite (AMS) for atomistic simulations, and the 3D kinetic Monte Carlo (3D-KMC) code Bumblebee for advanced device-level modeling. With this toolkit, OLED researchers and device engineers can now connect molecular design choices directly to measurable device performance [1].

Researchers from KAIST, led by Professor Yoo Seunghyup, developed a novel quasi-planar light extraction structure that enables to more than double the light output from OLED devices.

The researchers optimized the radiative power transfer in finite-sized OLED emission and reception areas, and then added a quasi-planar light extraction structure that has both a curved section and a straight section. Experiments have shown that this design minimized light loss caused by back-reflection within the structure and allowed more light to be emitted externally within a limited space.