Efficient multi-barrier thin film encapsulation of OLED using alternating Al2O3 and polymer layers.

Organic optoelectronic devices, especially for OLEDs, are extremely susceptibility to water vapor and oxygen which limit their widespread commercialization. In order to extend the shelf-lifetime of devices, thin film encapsulation is the most promising and challenging encapsulation process. In this study, dyad-style multilayer encapsulation structures based on alternating Al2O3 layer and parylene C have been discussed as gas diffusion barriers, in which dense and pinhole-free Al2O3 films were grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and flexible parylene C layers were deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). We found the particle in ALD deposited Al2O3 films process is the key killer to barrier property. The thickness of Al2O3 films is the key factor which limit the amount of strain placed on barrier films. With three dyads of the optimal thickness of 30 nm Al2O3 film and 500 nm parylene C, WVTR value is lower than 10-5 g m-2 per day. In addition, the lifetime of OLEDs with and without encapsulation was 190 h and 10 h, respectively. All the results show that this TFE structure has the effective encapsulated property and does not cause degradation of the OLED devices.

Hybrid Printing Metal-mesh Transparent Conductive Films with Lower Energy Photonically Sintered Copper/tin Ink.

With the help of photonic sintering using intensive pulse light (IPL), copper has started to replace silver as a printable conductive material for printing electrodes in electronic circuits. However, to sinter copper ink, high energy IPL has to be used, which often causes electrode destruction, due to unreleased stress concentration and massive heat generated. In this study, a Cu/Sn hybrid ink has been developed by mixing Cu and Sn particles. The hybrid ink requires lower sintering energy than normal copper ink and has been successfully employed in a hybrid printing process to make metal-mesh transparent conductive films (TCFs). The sintering energy of Cu/Sn hybrid films with the mass ratio of 2:1 and 1:1 (Cu:Sn) were decreased by 21% compared to sintering pure Cu film, which is attributed to the lower melting point of Sn for hybrid ink. Detailed study showed that the Sn particles were effectively fused among Cu particles and formed conducting path between them. The hybrid printed Cu/Sn metal-mesh TCF with line width of 3.5 µm, high transmittance of 84% and low sheet resistance of 14 Ω/□ have been achieved with less defects and better quality than printed pure copper metal-mesh TCFs.

Modification of the Highly Conductive PEDOT:PSS Layer for Use in Silver Nanogrid Electrodes for Flexible Inverted Polymer Solar Cells.

Silver nanogrid based flexible transparent electrode is recognized as the most promising alternative to ITO electrode for organic electronics, owing to its low production cost and excellent flexibility. Typically, a highly conductive thin film coating layer, such as highly conductive PEDOT:PSS (HC-PEDOT:PSS) is usually deposited onto the Ag-grid electrode to smooth the surface and to minimize the sheet resistance. In this paper, we found that inverted flexible polymer solar cells with structure of Ag-grid/HC-PEDOT:PSS/ZnO/photoactive layer/MoO3/Al generally exhibits strong S-shaped J-V curves, which could be eliminated by light-soaking treatment. Kelvin probe force microscope (KPFM) measurement proved that a large work function (WF) difference (0.70 eV) between HC-PEDOT:PSS and ZnO is the main reason for the formation of S-shape. White light soaking of the Ag-grid/HC-PEDOT:PSS gradually decreased the WF of HC-PEDOT:PSS from 5.10 to 4.60 eV, leading to a reduced WF difference between HC-PEDOT:PSS and ZnO from 0.70 to 0.38 eV. Such a WF difference decrease was believed to be the working mechanism for the light-soaking effect in this flexible device. Based on this finding, the HC-PEDOT:PSS solution was then modified by doping with polyethylenimine (PEI) and aqueous ammonia. The modified PEDOT:PSS film is characteristic of adjusting WF through varying PEI doping concentrations. By using such a modified PEDOT:PSS layer, light-soaking-free flexible inverted polymer solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of 6.58% was achieved for PTB7-Th:PC71BM cells. The current work provides a useful guideline for interfacial modification for Ag-grid based flexible electrode.

Effect of surface wettability properties on the electrical properties of printed carbon nanotube thin-film transistors on SiO2/Si substrates.

The precise placement and efficient deposition of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (sc-SWCNTs) on substrates are challenges for achieving printed high-performance SWCNT thin-film transistors (TFTs) with independent gates. It was found that the wettability of the substrate played a key role in the electrical properties of TFTs for sc-SWCNTs sorted by poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorene-2,7-diyl)-co-(1,4-benzo-2,1,3-thiadiazole)] (PFO-BT). In the present work we report a simple and scalable method which can rapidly and selectively deposit a high concentration of sc-SWCNTs in TFT channels by aerosol-jet-printing. The method is based on oxygen plasma treatment of substrates, which tunes the surface wettability. TFTs printed on the treated substrates demonstrated a low operation voltage, small hysteresis, high mobility up to 32.3 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), and high on/off ratio up to 10(6) after only two printings. Their mobilities were 10 and 30 times higher than those of TFTs fabricated on untreated and low-wettability substrates. The uniformity of printed TFTs was also greatly improved. Inverters were constructed by printed top-gate TFTs, and a maximum voltage gain of 17 at Vdd = 5 V was achieved. The mechanism of such improvements is that the PFO-BT-functionalized sc-SWCNTs are preferably immobilized on the oxygen plasma treated substrates due to the strong hydrogen bonds between sc-SWCNTs and hydroxyl groups on the substrates.

Sorting of large-diameter semiconducting carbon nanotube and printed flexible driving circuit for organic light emitting diode (OLED).

A novel approach was developed to sort a large-diameter semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (sc-SWCNT) based on copolyfluorene derivative with high yield. High purity sc-SWCNTs inks were obtained by wrapping arc-discharge SWCNTs with poly[2,7-(9,9-dioctylfluorene)-alt-4,7-bis(thiophen-2-yl)benzo-2,1,3-thiadiazole] (PFO-DBT) aided by sonication and centrifugation in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The sorted sc-SWCNT inks and nanosilver inks were used to print top-gated thin-film transistors (TFTs) on flexible substrates with an aerosol jet printer. The printed TFTs demonstrated low operating voltage, small hysteresis, high on-state current (up to 10(-3) A), high mobility and on-off ratio. An organic light emitting diode (OLED) driving circuit was constructed based on the printed TFTs, which exhibited high on-off ratio up to 10(4) and output current up to 3.5 × 10(-4) A at V(scan) = -4.5 V and Vdd = 0.8 V. A single OLED was switched on with the driving circuit, showing the potential as backplanes for active matrix OLED applications.

High performance thin film transistors based on regioregular poly(3-dodecylthiophene)-sorted large diameter semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes.

In this work, a simple and rapid method to selectively sort semiconducting-SWCNTs (sc-SWCNTs) with large diameters using regioregular poly(3-dodecylthiophene) (rr-P3DDT) is presented. The absorption spectra and Raman spectra demonstrated that metallic species of arc discharge SWCNTs were effectively removed after interaction with rr-P3DDT in toluene with the aid of sonication and centrifugation. The sorted sc-SWCNT inks have been directly used to fabricate thin film transistors (TFTs) by dip-coating, drop-casting and inkjet printing. TFTs with an effective mobility of ∼34 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and on-off ratios of ∼10(7) have been achieved by dip coating and drop casting the ink on SiO2/Si substrates with pre-patterned interdigitated gold electrode arrays. The printed devices also showed excellent electrical properties with a mobility of up to 6.6 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and on-off ratios of up to 10(5). Printed inverters based on the TFTs have been constructed on glass substrates, showing a maximum voltage gain of 112 at a V(dd) of -5 V. This work paves the way for making printable logic circuits for real applications.