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Research Article

High performance inkjet-printed QLEDs with 18.3% EQE: Improving interfacial contact by novel halogen-free binary solvent system

Ming Chen1,§, Liming Xie1,§, Changting Wei1, Yuan-Qiu-Qiang Yi1, Xiaolian Chen1, Jian Yang1, Jinyong Zhuang2, Fushan Li3, Wenming Su1( ), Zheng Cui1
Printable Electronics Research Center Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of SciencesSuzhou 215123 China
Guangdong Juhua Printed Display Technol Company Ltd.Guangzhou 510700 China
Institute of Optoelectronic Technology Fuzhou UniversityFuzhou 350002 China

§Ming Chen and Liming Xie contributed equally to this work.

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Abstract

Poly[(9, 9-dioctylfluorenyl-2, 7-diyl)-alt(4, 4'-(N-(4-butylphenyl))] (TFB), one of the most popular and widely used hole-transport layer (HTL) materials, has been successfully applied in high performance spin-coated quantum dots-based light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) due to its suitable energy level and high mobility. However, there are still many challenging issues in inkjet-printed QLED devices when using TFB as HTL. TFB normally suffers from the interlayer mixing and erosion, and low surface energy against the good film formation. Here, a novel environment-friendly binary solvent system was established for formulating quantum dot (QD) inks, which is based on mixing halogen-free alkane solvents of decalin and n-tridecane. The optimum volume ratio for the mixture of decalin and n-tridecane was found to be 7:3, at which a stable ink jetting flow and coffee-ring free QD films could be formed. To research the influence of substrate surface on the formation of inkjet-printed QD films, TFB was annealed at different temperatures, and the optimum annealing temperature was found to enable high quality inkjet-printed QD film. Inkjet-printed red QLED was ultimately manufactured. A maximum 18.3% of external quantum efficiency (EQE) was achieved, reaching 93% of the spin-coated QLED, which is the best reported high efficiency inkjet-printed red QLEDs to date. In addition, the inkjet-printed QLED achieved similar T75 operational lifetime (27 h) as compared to the spin-coated reference QLED (28 h) at 2, 000 cd·m−2. This work demonstrated that the novel orthogonal halogen-free alkane co-solvents can improve the interfacial contact and facilitate high-performance inkjet printing QLEDs with high EQE and stability.

Keywords

quantum dotsquantum dots light-emitting diodes (QLEDs)inkjet printinghalogen-free inkscontact interface

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Nano Research
Volume 14 Issue 11,
November 2021
Pages 4125-4131
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-021-3352-9
Cite this article:
Chen M, Xie L, Wei C, et al. High performance inkjet-printed QLEDs with 18.3% EQE: Improving interfacial contact by novel halogen-free binary solvent system. Nano Research, 2021, 14(11): 4125-4131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3352-9
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Received: 19 November 2020
Revised: 27 December 2020
Accepted: 19 January 2021
Published: 24 February 2021
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
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