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Light Outcoupling Using Oxide Nanostructures for Tandem White Organic Light-Emitting Diodes on Polymeric Anodes

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Abstract

A highly transparent nanostructured light outcoupling system integrated with a solution-processed polymer anode is proposed for enhancing the light outcoupling of tandem white organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). A poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) anode with an internal outcoupling structure (IOS) was easily prepared on a glass substrate via rapid and cost-effective fabrication methods. The nanostructures for the IOS were constructed based on zinc tin oxide (ZTO) prepared by Zn and Sn sputtering followed by thermal annealing. The refractive index matching and internal light scattering led to remarkably reduced waveguided and substrate modes in the OLEDs. The external quantum efficiency (EQE), current efficiency (CE), and luminance efficiency (LE) of the tandem white OLEDs fabricated using the PEDOT:PSS/IOS system were superior to those of the devices based on the conventional ITO and PEDOT:PSS electrodes without the IOS. With the application of the ZTO-based IOS, the tandem devices achieved EQE, CE, and LE 20.6%, 42 cd/A, and 23.3 lm/W, respectively, showing a 1.4-fold EQE enhancement over that of the ITO-based device without the IOS. Moreover, the EQE of the devices increased by a factor of 2.3 upon combining the ZTO IOS with a hemispherical lens placed on the backside of the substrate. Remarkably, the ZTO IOS-based devices exhibited outstanding white color stability over large viewing angles. The simple and low-cost IOS developed in this study can potentially be a practical technique for enhancing the light outcoupling efficiency of tandem white OLEDs.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2018R1A6A1A03026005 and 2019R1I1A3A01056075), and support from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (Grant No. 2E30470).

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Author notes

  1. Gunel Huseynova and Jonghee Lee have contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RIPE & 3D Printing, Hanbat National University, Daejeon, 34158, Republic of Korea

    Gunel Huseynova

  2. Department of Creative Convergence Engineering, Hanbat National University, Daejeon, 34158, Republic of Korea

    Jonghee Lee & Jae-Hyun Lee

  3. Center for Electronic Materials, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea

    Won Mok Kim

  4. Department of Display Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, 48513, Republic of Korea

    Yong Hyun Kim

  5. Department of Smart Green Technology Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, 48513, Republic of Korea

    Yong Hyun Kim

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  1. Gunel Huseynova
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  2. Jonghee Lee
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  3. Jae-Hyun Lee
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Correspondence to Yong Hyun Kim.

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Huseynova, G., Lee, J., Lee, JH. et al. Light Outcoupling Using Oxide Nanostructures for Tandem White Organic Light-Emitting Diodes on Polymeric Anodes. Electron. Mater. Lett. 17, 471–478 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-021-00303-x

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