Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät - Institut für Chemie

Inkjet-printed electrodes implemented in flexible OLEDs

Researchers in Emil List-Kratochvil’s group at the Department of Chemistry of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have successfully incorporated an ink produced by the Berlin-based company OrelTech (itself previously hosted at the Department) in solution-processed organic light emitting diodes.

After inkjet printing the particle-free silver ink, a low-temperature argon plasma is used to reduce the silver ions in the ink to metallic silver. The researchers then fabricated organic light-emitting diodes on the flexible substrate PET using the silver ink as a transparent conductive electrode.

The resulting devices show comparable light output characteristics to those based on the otherwise widely used indium tin oxide (ITO). Crucially, however, the silver electrodes showed superior stability to ITO upon mechanical bending, thereby opening up several application opportunities of the printed devices.

 

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The work has been published in the journal Flexible and Printed Electronics and is available Open Access.

 

Research paper:

Michael Hengge, Konstantin Livanov, Natalia Zamoshchik, Felix Hermerschmidt, and Emil J. W. List-Kratochvil, ITO-free OLEDs utilizing inkjet-printed and low temperature plasma-sintered Ag electrodes, Flex. Print. Electron. 6 (2021) 015009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2058-8585/abe604.

 

Emil List-Kratochvil holds a bridge professorship in the Department of Chemistry and Physics and heads the Hybrid Devices group at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, as well as the Joint Lab Generative Manufacturing Processes at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. His group is based in the IRIS research building.

 

Webpage HU: https://hyd.iris-adlershof.de/

Webpage HZB: https://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/forschung/oe/se/generative-manufacturing-processes/index_en.html

OrelTech: https://www.orel-tech.com/

Integrative Research Institute for the Sciences (IRIS): http://www.iris-adlershof.de/