Unicolored phosphor-sensitized fluorescence for efficient and stable blue OLEDs

P. Heimel, A. Mondal, F. May, W. Kowalsky, C. Lennartz, D. Andrienko, R. Lovrincic, Nature Communications , 2018 [doi]

Improving lifetimes and efficiencies of blue organic light-emitting diodes is clearly a scientific challenge. Towards solving this challenge we propose a unicolored phosphor-sensitized fluorescence approach with phosphorescent and fluorescent emitters tailored to preserve the initial color of phosphorescence. Using this approach we design an efficient sky-blue light-emitting diode with radiative decay times in the submicrosecond regime. By changing the concentration of fluorescent emitter we show that the lifetime is proportional to the reduction of the radiative decay time and tune the operational stability to lifetimes of up to 320 h (80 % decay initial luminance of 1000 cd/m2). Unicolored phosphor-sensitized fluorescence provides a clear path towards efficient and stable blue light-emitting diodes helping to overcome the limitations of thermally activated delayed fluorescence.