Highly Deformable and See-Through Polymer Light-Emitting Diodes with All-Conducting-Polymer Electrodes

Abstract

Despite the high expectation of deformable and see-through displays for future ubiquitous society, current light-emitting diodes (LEDs) fail to meet the desired mechanical and optical properties, mainly because of the fragile transparent conducting oxides and opaque metal electrodes. Here, by introducing a highly conductive nanofibrillated conducting polymer (CP) as both deformable transparent anode and cathode, ultraflexible and see-through polymer LEDs (PLEDs) are demonstrated. The CP-based PLEDs exhibit outstanding dual-side light-outcoupling performance with a high optical transmittance of 75% at a wavelength of 550 nm and with an excellent mechanical durability of 9% bending strain. Moreover, the CP-based PLEDs fabricated on 4 µm thick plastic foils with all-solution processing have extremely deformable and foldable light-emitting functionality. This approach is expected to open a new avenue for developing wearable and attachable transparent displays.

Deformable and see-through polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) are developed by using a highly conductive nanofibrillated conducting polymer (CP) as both ultraflexible transparent anode and cathode. The CP-based PLEDs fabricated on plastic foils with all-solution processing exhibit outstanding dual-side light-outcoupling performance and rollable/foldable light-emitting functionality with a high optical transmittance of 75% at a wavelength of 550 nm.

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