A flexible organic mechanoluminophore device

Qingyang Zhang; Mengxin Xu; Liming Zhou; Shihao Liu; Wei Wang; Letian Zhang; Wenfa Xie; Cunjiang Yu

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-36916-z

A flexible organic mechanoluminophore device

Nat Commun. 2023 Mar 6;14(1):1257. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36916-z.

Authors

Qingyang Zhang¹, Mengxin Xu¹, Liming Zhou², Shihao Liu¹, Wei Wang¹, Letian Zhang¹, Wenfa Xie³, Cunjiang Yu^{4

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Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China.
² School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130025, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China. xiewf@jlu.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. cmy5358@psu.edu.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. cmy5358@psu.edu.
⁶ Department of Material Science and Engineering, Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. cmy5358@psu.edu.

Abstract

A flexible mechanoluminophore device that is capable of converting mechanical energy into visualizable patterns through light-emission holds great promise in many applications, such as human-machine interfaces, Internet of Things, wearables, etc. However, the development has been very nascent, and more importantly, existing mechanoluminophore materials or devices emit light that cannot be discernible under ambient light, in particular with slight applied force or deformation. Here we report the development of a low-cost flexible organic mechanoluminophore device, which is constructed based on the multi-layered integration of a high-efficiency, high-contrast top-emitting organic light-emitting device and a piezoelectric generator on a thin polymer substrate. The device is rationalized based on a high-performance top-emitting organic light-emitting device design and maximized piezoelectric generator output through a bending stress optimization and have demonstrated that it is discernible under an ambient illumination as high as 3000 lux. A flexible multifunctional anti-counterfeiting device is further developed by integrating patterned electro-responsive and photo-responsive organic emitters onto the flexible organic mechanoluminophore device, capable of converting mechanical, electrical, and/or optical inputs into light emission and patterned displays.