ABSTRACT
The emerging field of printed electronics uses large amounts of printing and coating solvents during fabrication, which commonly are deposited and evaporated within spaces available to workers. It is in this context unfortunate that many of the currently employed solvents are non-desirable from health, safety, or environmental perspectives. Here, we address this issue through the development of a tool for the straightforward identification of functional and "green" replacement solvents. In short, the tool organizes a large set of solvents according to their Hansen solubility parameters, ink properties, and sustainability descriptors, and through systematic iteration delivers suggestions for green alternative solvents with similar dissolution capacity as the current non-sustainable solvent. We exemplify the merit of the tool in a case study on a multi-solute ink for high-performance light-emitting electrochemical cells, where a non-desired solvent was successfully replaced by two benign alternatives. The green-solvent selection tool is freely available at: www.opeg-umu.se/green-solvent-tool .
ABSTRACT
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
ABSTRACT
The light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) exhibits capacity for efficient charge injection from two air-stable electrodes into a single-layer active material, which is commonly interpreted as implying that the LEC operation is independent of the electrode selection. Here, we demonstrate that this is far from the truth and that the electrode selection instead has a strong influence on the LEC performance. We systematically investigate 13 different materials for the positive anode and negative cathode in a common LEC configuration with the conjugated polymer Super Yellow as the electroactive emitter and find that Ca, Mn, Ag, Al, Cu, indium tin oxide (ITO), and Au function as the LEC cathode, whereas ITO and Ni can operate as the LEC anode. Importantly, we demonstrate that the electrochemical stability of the electrode is paramount and that particularly electrochemical oxidation of the anode can prohibit the functional LEC operation. We finally report that it appears preferable to design the device so that the heights of the injection barriers at the two electrode/active material interfaces are balanced in order to mitigate electrode-induced quenching of the light emission. As such, this study has expanded the set of air-stable electrode materials available for functional LEC operation and also established a procedure for the evaluation and design of future efficient electrode materials.
ABSTRACT
The light-emitting electrochemical cell promises cost-efficient, large-area emissive applications, as its characteristic in-situ doping enables use of air-stabile electrodes and a solution-processed single-layer active material. However, mutual exclusion of high efficiency and high brightness has proven a seemingly fundamental problem. Here we present a generic approach that overcomes this critical issue, and report on devices equipped with air-stabile electrodes and outcoupling structure that deliver a record-high efficiency of 99.2 cd A-1 at a bright luminance of 1910 cd m-2. This device significantly outperforms the corresponding optimized organic light-emitting diode despite the latter employing calcium as the cathode. The key to this achievement is the design of the host-guest active material, in which tailored traps suppress exciton diffusion and quenching in the central recombination zone, allowing efficient triplet emission. Simultaneously, the traps do not significantly hamper electron and hole transport, as essentially all traps in the transport regions are filled by doping.
ABSTRACT
We present a direct-write patterning method for the realization of electroluminescent (EL) line art using a surface-emissive light-emitting electrochemical cell with its electrolyte and EL material separated into a bilayer structure. The line-art emission is achieved through subtractive patterning of the electrolyte layer with a stylus, and the single-step patterning can be either manual for personalization and uniqueness or automated for high throughput and repeatability. We demonstrate that the light emission is effectuated by cation-assisted electron injection in the patterned regions and that the resulting emissive lines can be as narrow as a few micrometers. The versatility of the method is demonstrated through the attainment of a wide range of light-emission patterns and colors using a variety of different materials. We propose that this low-voltage-driven and easy-to-modify luminescent line-art technology could be of interest for emerging applications, such as active packaging and personalized gadgets.
ABSTRACT
We report on voltage-controlled electroluminescence (EL) over a broad range of colors from a "two-luminophor" (2L) light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC), comprising a blend of a majority blue-emitting conjugated polymer (blue-CP), a minority red-emitting ionic transition metal complex (red-iTMC), and an ion-transporting compound as the active layer. The EL color is reversibly shifted from red, over orange, pink, and white, to blue by simply changing the applied voltage from 3 to 7 V. An analysis of our results suggests that the low concentration of immobile cations intrinsic to this particular device configuration controls the electron injection and thereby the EL color: at low voltage, electrons are selectively injected into the low-barrier minority red-iTMC, but with increasing voltage the injection into the high-barrier majority blue-CP is gradually improved.
ABSTRACT
A new bilayer light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) device, which allows well-defined patterned light emission through an easily adjustable, mask-free, and additive fabrication process, is reported. The bilayer stack comprises an inkjet-printed lattice of micrometer-sized electrolyte droplets, in a "filled" or "patterned" lattice configuration. On top of this, a thin layer of light-emitting compound is deposited from solution. The light emission is demonstrated to originate from regions proximate to the interfaces between the inkjetted electrolyte, the light-emitting compound, and one electrode, where bipolar electron/hole injection and electrochemical doping are facilitated by ion motion. By employing KCF3 SO3 in poly(ethylene glycol) as the electrolyte, Super Yellow as the light-emitting compound, and two air-stabile electrodes, it is possible to realize filled lattice devices that feature uniform yellow-green light emission to the naked eye, and patterned lattice devices that deliver well-defined and high-contrast static messages with a pixel density of 170 PPI.
ABSTRACT
Light-emitting electrochemical cells, featuring uniform and efficient light emission over areas of 200 cm(2) , are fabricated under ambient air with a for-the-purpose developed "spray-sintering" process. This fault-tolerant fabrication technique can also produce multicolored emission patterns via sequential deposition of different inks based on identical solvents. Significantly, additive spray-sintering using a mobile airbrush allows a straightforward addition of emissive function onto a wide variety of complex-shaped surfaces, as exemplified by the realization of a light-emitting kitchenware fork.
Subject(s)
Air , Light , Optical Devices , Color , Surface PropertiesABSTRACT
We present a solution-processed trilayer light-emitting device architecture, comprising two hydrophobic and mobile-ion-containing "transport layers" sandwiching a hydrophilic and ion-free "intermediate layer", which allows for lowered self-absorption, minimized electrode quenching, and tunable light emission. Our results reveal that the transport layers can be doped in situ when a voltage is applied, that the intermediate layer as desired can contribute significantly to the light emission, and that the key to a successful operation is the employment of a porous and (~5-10 nm) thin intermediate layer allowing for facile ion transport. We report that such a solution-processed device, comprising a thick trilayer material (~250 nm) and air-stable electrodes, emits blue light (λ(peak) = 450, 484 nm) with high efficiency (5.3 cd/A) at a low drive voltage of 5 V.
ABSTRACT
The grand vision of manufacturing large-area emissive devices with low-cost roll-to-roll coating methods, akin to how newspapers are produced, appeared with the emergence of the organic light-emitting diode about 20 years ago. Today, small organic light-emitting diode displays are commercially available in smartphones, but the promise of a continuous ambient fabrication has unfortunately not materialized yet, as organic light-emitting diodes invariably depend on the use of one or more time- and energy-consuming process steps under vacuum. Here we report an all-solution-based fabrication of an alternative emissive device, a light-emitting electrochemical cell, using a slot-die roll-coating apparatus. The fabricated flexible sheets exhibit bidirectional and uniform light emission, and feature a fault-tolerant >1-µm-thick active material that is doped in situ during operation. It is notable that the initial preparation of inks, the subsequent coating of the constituent layers and the final device operation all could be executed under ambient air.
ABSTRACT
The current generation of polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) suffers from insufficient stability during operation. One identified culprit is the active material, which comprises an intimate blend between an ion-conducting electrolyte and an electron-transporting conjugated polymer, as it tends to undergo phase separation during long-term operation and the intimate contact between the ion- and electron-transporting components provokes side reactions. To address these stability issues, we present here a bilayer LEC structure in which the electrolyte is spatially separated from the conjugated polymer. We demonstrate that employing this novel device structure, with its clearly separated ion- and electron-transport paths, leads to distinctly improved LEC performance in the form of decreased turn-on time and improved light emission. We also point out that it will allow for the utilization of combinations of active materials having mutually incompatible solubilities.
