Technical / Research

Researchers develop 100% IQE radical-based OLED emission

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Jilin University discovered that radical-based OLEDs feature highly efficient emission - in fact they believe that this discovery could be an elegant solution to the problem of in-efficient OLED emission.

First-generation OLED emitters (fluorescent emitters) have a maximum internal quantum efficiency of 25% - as only a quarter of the electrons are in a singlet-state (that emit light) while 75% of the electrons are in a triplet-state. Current ways to achieve 100% IQE are either based on doping with heavy metals (phosphorescent emission) or either based on delayed fluorescence (TADF).

Lyteus partners demonstrate the world's longest flexible OLED lighting device at 15 meters

The Fraunhofer FEP institute, the Holst Center and other partners have developed a 15-meter long OLED lighting panel, the longer OLED device ever (beating their own 2017 record of a 10-meter OLED). This work was done as part of the Lyteus, the EU's €14 million initiative within PI-SCALE.

Lyteus 15 meter OLED lighting roll
The partners in this project say that this is the first OLED produced using a new unique roll-to-roll (R2R) process that combines the performance of an evaporated OLED stack with solution processing of auxiliary layers.

Researchers use printed red and near-infrared PLEDs to create a flexible blood oxygen sensor

Researchers from the University of California Berkley developed a new flexible and lightweight blood oxygen sensor that can map oxygen levels over large area. The sensor uses an array of red and near-infrared OLEDs, together with organic photo-diodes, printed on a flexible substrate.

Red and infrared flexible OLED-based blood oxygen sensor (UCB)

The research was supported by Cambridge Display Technology, which means that these red and near-infrared printed OLEDs use polymer emitters (PLEDs).

KAIST researchers developed a 221 lm/W orange OLED device using external scattering

Researchers from Korea's KAIST research institute developed a high-efficiency OLED architecture that uses external scattering medium to achieve an EQE greater than 50%.

OLED with SiO2 scattering layers (photo: KAIST)

Such high EQE was only demonstrated before using complex internal nanostructures or by employing a micro-lens array, but these solutions are complicated to produce and can hinder the OLEDs flexibility and planar structure. The researchers say that their scattering approach maintains the planar geometry , results in flexible OLEDs and can be easily scaled to enable low cost production.

The UK launches a new project that aims to improve airtight bonding in OLED lighting devices

The UK innovation agency (Innovate UK) has launched a new 30-month project called UltraWELD, which aims to improve airtight bonding in OLED lighting for aerospace and defense applications. The project partners will develop photonic-based processes for highly dissimilar material joining.

UltraWELD - OLED OPV prototyping line at the CPI

Current dissimilar materials joining is mainly done using adhesive bonding - a highly flexible and low cost process, but one that cannot provide truly hermetic bonds, which reduces the performance of the panels and can lead to optical damage.

Fraunhofer researchers use electron beam to micro-pattern OLED microdisplays

Researchers from the Fraunhofer FEP institute developed a new micro-patterning process using an electron beam to produce OLED microdisplays on silicon substrates. This could enable a new way to produce direct-emission OLED microdisplays, which will be more efficient and bright compared to the current ones that use color filters.

Electron Beam Patterning for OLED microdisplays (Fraunhofer)

The electron beam patterning is performed after the encapsulation step - the beam goes through the encapsulation layer and can be used to modify the emission of the OLED materials. To create red, green, and blue pixels, an organic layer of the OLED itself is ablated by a thermal electron beam process.

Kyushu University researchers use singlet fission to achieve near-infrared OLED emitters with >100% IQE

Researchers from Japan's Kyushu University developed a new technology called singlet fission that enables near-infrared OLED materials to surpass the 100% limit for exciton production - or achieve an internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of over 100%. Singlet fission was already used in OPVs, but this is the first time that it was demonstrated with OLEDs.

SInglet fission OLED process, Kyushu University

Achieving over 100% is possible because at 100% IQE all charges form excitons that emit light. The new technique splits the energy from a high-energy excitons into two low level ones. The new OLED emitter materials use molecules in which singlets can transfer half of their energy to neighboring molecules while keeping half of the energy for themselves - each singlet creates two triplets. The emitters emit near-infrared light.

The Fraunhofer FEP develops a new technology to produce ultra-smooth polymer films

The Fraunhofer FEP announced that it developed a new technology to produce ultra-smooth polymer films. The new technology can be used to produce low-defect density films in a roll-to-roll based process, suitable for a wide range of applications - including encapsulation films, touch layers and as OLED substrates.

Fraunhofer OptiPerm ultra-smooth polymer films photo

This technology was developed as part of the EU-funded OptiPerm project. The Fraunhofer researchers say that this new innovative process does not require any special processing environment and could be used under standard factory conditions.

Motorola patents a technology to fix low-temperature foldable display deformation

Motorola has been granted an interesting patent that aims to solve screen deformation with foldable displays. Motorola says that one of the issues with foldable displays is that they deform in low temperatures.

Motorola heating-hinge foldable OLED patent photo

Motorola suggests using a temperature sensor that detects when the display is deformed, and then the hinge is heated so that the display is automatically corrected. This could be used to create foldable OLEd phones that bend both inward and outwards, and can work with more than one hinge (so that you can fold a display several times).

Researchers demonstrate Kirigami-inspired 3D OLED lighting devices

Researchers from Penn State University have demonstrated 3D OLED lighting devices, inspired by the Japanese Kirigami art of paper cutting the folding.

Penn State University, Kirigami OLED lighting

The researchers started with flexible OLED lighting devices produced on thin plastics, which they then cut and folded to create lighting-emitting 3D structures.