Highly efficient and foldable top-emission organic light-emitting diodes based on Ag-nanoparticles modified graphite electrode

Top-emission flexible organic light-emitting devices (TE-FOLEDs) are highly suitable for next generation display due to their numerous assets including top-emitting configuration and mechanical flexibility. One major challenge in TE-FOLEDs is to prepare a deformable and reflective bottom electrode capable of effective carrier injection. In this paper, a new strategy for efficient and foldable TE-FOLEDs is demonstrated. It is based on a highly conductive Ag-nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) modified graphite that is used as a flexible bottom electrode. The good reflectance to full-color emission (>59% over the whole visible wavelength range), ultralow sheet resistance (<5 Ω/sq), and high tolerance to mechanical bending (almost unchanged in resistance after bending 1000 times with an angle of ±90°) of the modified graphite synergistically constitute a breakthrough in the domain of TE-FOLEDs. The maximum current efficiencies reach 15.0, 50.2, 16.8 cd/A for red, green, blue emissions, respectively. Colorimetric gamut increased by 99.6% compared to bottom emission structure with the corresponding Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of the red/green/blue (R/G/B) devices. In particular, the TE-FOLEDs incorporating highly flexible graphite electrodes offer great mechanical durability and the initial brightness of 5000 cd/m can be maintained over 90% after bending for 1000 bending cycles. This approach is expected to open a new avenue for developing foldable displays.