IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-43408-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Critical role of electrons in the short lifetime of blue OLEDs

Author

Listed:
  • Jaewook Kim

    (Department of Chemistry, KAIST)

  • Joonghyuk Kim

    (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)

  • Yongjun Kim

    (Department of Chemistry, KAIST)

  • Youngmok Son

    (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)

  • Youngsik Shin

    (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)

  • Hye Jin Bae

    (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)

  • Ji Whan Kim

    (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)

  • Sungho Nam

    (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)

  • Yongsik Jung

    (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)

  • Hyeonsu Kim

    (Department of Chemistry, KAIST)

  • Sungwoo Kang

    (Department of Chemistry, KAIST
    Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)

  • Yoonsoo Jung

    (Department of Chemistry, KAIST)

  • Kyunghoon Lee

    (Department of Chemistry, KAIST)

  • Hyeonho Choi

    (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)

  • Woo Youn Kim

    (Department of Chemistry, KAIST)

Abstract

Designing robust blue organic light-emitting diodes is a long-standing challenge in the display industry. The highly energetic states of blue emitters cause various degradation paths, leading to collective luminance drops in a competitive manner. However, a key mechanism of the operational degradation of organic light-emitting diodes has yet to be elucidated. Here, we show that electron-induced degradation reactions play a critical role in the short lifetime of blue organic light-emitting diodes. Our control experiments demonstrate that the operational lifetime of a whole device can only be explained when excitons and electrons exist together. We examine the atomistic mechanisms of the electron-induced degradation reactions by analyzing their energetic profiles using computational methods. Mass spectrometric analysis of aged devices further confirm the key mechanisms. These results provide new insight into rational design of robust blue organic light-emitting diodes.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaewook Kim & Joonghyuk Kim & Yongjun Kim & Youngmok Son & Youngsik Shin & Hye Jin Bae & Ji Whan Kim & Sungho Nam & Yongsik Jung & Hyeonsu Kim & Sungwoo Kang & Yoonsoo Jung & Kyunghoon Lee & Hyeonho C, 2023. "Critical role of electrons in the short lifetime of blue OLEDs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-43408-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43408-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43408-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-43408-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jaesang Lee & Changyeong Jeong & Thilini Batagoda & Caleb Coburn & Mark E. Thompson & Stephen R. Forrest, 2017. "Hot excited state management for long-lived blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, August.
    2. M. A. Baldo & D. F. O'Brien & Y. You & A. Shoustikov & S. Sibley & M. E. Thompson & S. R. Forrest, 1998. "Highly efficient phosphorescent emission from organic electroluminescent devices," Nature, Nature, vol. 395(6698), pages 151-154, September.
    3. Yifan Zhang & Jaesang Lee & Stephen R. Forrest, 2014. "Tenfold increase in the lifetime of blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
    4. Seung-yeol Baek & Seung-Yeon Kwak & Seoung-Tae Kim & Kyu Young Hwang & Hyun Koo & Won-Joon Son & Byoungki Choi & Sunghan Kim & Hyeonho Choi & Mu-Hyun Baik, 2020. "Ancillary ligand increases the efficiency of heteroleptic Ir-based triplet emitters in OLED devices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-7, December.
    5. Sinheui Kim & Hye Jin Bae & Sangho Park & Wook Kim & Joonghyuk Kim & Jong Soo Kim & Yongsik Jung & Soohwan Sul & Soo-Ghang Ihn & Changho Noh & Sunghan Kim & Youngmin You, 2018. "Degradation of blue-phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices involves exciton-induced generation of polaron pair within emitting layers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sinyeong Jung & Wai-Lung Cheung & Si-jie Li & Min Wang & Wansi Li & Cangyu Wang & Xiaoge Song & Guodan Wei & Qinghua Song & Season Si Chen & Wanqing Cai & Maggie Ng & Wai Kit Tang & Man-Chung Tang, 2023. "Enhancing operational stability of OLEDs based on subatomic modified thermally activated delayed fluorescence compounds," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Gustavo F. Trindade & Soohwan Sul & Joonghyuk Kim & Rasmus Havelund & Anya Eyres & Sungjun Park & Youngsik Shin & Hye Jin Bae & Young Mo Sung & Lidija Matjacic & Yongsik Jung & Jungyeon Won & Woo Sung, 2023. "Direct identification of interfacial degradation in blue OLEDs using nanoscale chemical depth profiling," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Xing Wang Liu & Weijun Zhao & Yue Wu & Zhengong Meng & Zikai He & Xin Qi & Yiran Ren & Zhen-Qiang Yu & Ben Zhong Tang, 2022. "Photo-thermo-induced room-temperature phosphorescence through solid-state molecular motion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Shun Kondo & Mana Kameyama & Kentaro Imaoka & Yoko Shimoi & Fabrice Mathevet & Takashi Fujihara & Hiroshi Goto & Hajime Nakanotani & Masayuki Yahiro & Chihaya Adachi, 2024. "Organic thermoelectric device utilizing charge transfer interface as the charge generation by harvesting thermal energy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    5. Young Hun Jung & Gyeong Seok Lee & Subramanian Muruganantham & Hye Rin Kim & Jun Hyeog Oh & Jung Ho Ham & Sagar B. Yadav & Ji Hyun Lee & Mi Young Chae & Yun-Hi Kim & Jang Hyuk Kwon, 2024. "Modified t-butyl in tetradentate platinum (II) complexes enables exceptional lifetime for blue-phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Xun Tang & Tuul Tsagaantsooj & Tharindu P. B. Rajakaruna & Kai Wang & Xian-Kai Chen & Xiao-Hong Zhang & Takuji Hatakeyama & Chihaya Adachi, 2024. "Stable pure-green organic light-emitting diodes toward Rec.2020 standard," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    7. Nan Zhang & Lei Qu & Shuheng Dai & Guohua Xie & Chunmiao Han & Jing Zhang & Ran Huo & Huan Hu & Qiushui Chen & Wei Huang & Hui Xu, 2023. "Intramolecular charge transfer enables highly-efficient X-ray luminescence in cluster scintillators," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    8. Xiao Tan & Dehai Dou & Lay-Lay Chua & Rui-Qi Png & Daniel G. Congrave & Hugo Bronstein & Martin Baumgarten & Yungui Li & Paul W. M. Blom & Gert-Jan A. H. Wetzelaer, 2024. "Inverted device architecture for high efficiency single-layer organic light-emitting diodes with imbalanced charge transport," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    9. Pode, Ramchandra, 2020. "Organic light emitting diode devices: An energy efficient solid state lighting for applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    10. Xiaokang Yao & Yuxin Li & Huifang Shi & Ze Yu & Beishen Wu & Zixing Zhou & Chifeng Zhou & Xifang Zheng & Mengting Tang & Xiao Wang & Huili Ma & Zhengong Meng & Wei Huang & Zhongfu An, 2024. "Narrowband room temperature phosphorescence of closed-loop molecules through the multiple resonance effect," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    11. Yusuke Kawashima & Tomoyuki Hamachi & Akio Yamauchi & Koki Nishimura & Yuma Nakashima & Saiya Fujiwara & Nobuo Kimizuka & Tomohiro Ryu & Tetsu Tamura & Masaki Saigo & Ken Onda & Shunsuke Sato & Yasuhi, 2023. "Singlet fission as a polarized spin generator for dynamic nuclear polarization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    12. Yan Fu & Hao Liu & Ben Zhong Tang & Zujin Zhao, 2023. "Realizing efficient blue and deep-blue delayed fluorescence materials with record-beating electroluminescence efficiencies of 43.4%," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Guoyun Meng & Hengyi Dai & Qi Wang & Jianping Zhou & Tianjiao Fan & Xuan Zeng & Xiang Wang & Yuewei Zhang & Dezhi Yang & Dongge Ma & Dongdong Zhang & Lian Duan, 2023. "High-efficiency and stable short-delayed fluorescence emitters with hybrid long- and short-range charge-transfer excitations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Christian Hintze & Tobias O Morgen & Malte Drescher, 2017. "Heavy-atom effect on optically excited triplet state kinetics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-13, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-43408-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.