A Light Scattering Layer for Internal Light Extraction of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Based on Silver Nanowires

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016 Jul 13;8(27):17409-15. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b02924. Epub 2016 Jun 28.

Abstract

We propose and fabricate a random light scattering layer for light extraction in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with silver nanodots, which were obtained by melting silver nanowires. The OLED with the light scattering layer as an internal light extraction structure was enhanced by 49.1% for the integrated external quantum efficiency (EQE). When a wrinkle structure is simultaneously used for an external light extraction structure, the total enhancement of the integrated EQE was 65.3%. The EQE is maximized to 65.3% at a current level of 2.0 mA/cm(2). By applying an internal light scattering layer and wrinkle structure to an OLED, the variance in the emission spectra was negligible over a broad viewing angle. Power mode analyses with finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations revealed that the use of a scattering layer effectively reduced the waveguiding mode while introducing non-negligible absorption. Our method offers an effective yet simple approach to achieve both efficiency enhancement and spectral stability for a wide range of OLED applications.

Keywords: finite difference time domain; light extraction; organic light-emitting diodes; silver nanowires; wrinkle structures.