Hybrid Plasmon Mode Enhancing the Lifetime and Forward-Directional Emission for Solution-Processed OLEDs

Ongoing research is dedicated to tackling the trade-off between out-coupling efficiency, transparency, and conductivity for transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs), owing to their continuously increasing application in smartphones/watches, augmented/virtual reality, and naked eye 3D projection. Herein, an aluminum substrate-mediated hybrid plasmon mode is deliberately embedded in solution-processed organic light-emitting diode (SOLED). The created TCE with a 6-nm-Al film-mediated indium tin oxide (ITO) displays an average transmittance of 88.3%, an average ultra-low haze of 0.2%, and a sheet resistance of 9.5 omega sq-1, surpassing commercial ITO substrates. By precisely controlling the geometry of this aluminium film/dielectric spacer/silver nanoparticle (Al film-TAPC-Ag NP) coupled system, a hybrid dipolar, and quadrupolar mode is required, providing further enhanced scattering strength and plasmon coupling effect in the resultant OLED. These Al film-TAPC-Ag NP system mediated SOLEDs display improved decay rate of triplet excitons, elevated electroluminescence out-coupling efficiency, and suppressed waveguide confinement. Consequently, enhanced stability by 10% after 580 h storage without encapsulation, forward-directed emission with a +/- 70 degrees light-emitting angle, and a 22% current efficiency enhancement are simultaneously realized, compared with conventional SOLEDs. This work presents new opportunities for LED design and for the implementation of solution-processed LEDs in large-area high-performance displays. A hybrid plasmon mode for high-performing solution-processed OLED is presented. By coupling silver nanoparticles to a dielectric layer mediated aluminum film, the resulting emitter displays an improved decay rate of triplet excitons, elevated electroluminescence out-coupling efficiency, and suppressed waveguide confinement. This approach has the potential for applications in various optoelectronic devices, including light-emitting diodes and photovoltaic devices. image