High-performance all-solution-processed inverted quantum dot light-emitting diodes enabled by water treatment

All-solution-processed inverted quantum dot(QD)light-emitting diodes(QLEDs)with transparent bottom cathodes can be directly connected to the n-type thin-film transistors,offering a feasible solution for low-cost active matrix-driven QD displays.However,the subsequent solution-deposition of the hole-transporting layer destroys the underneath QD films,resulting in largely deteriorated device performance.Various strategies have been implemented to prevent QD film from dissolution,but all at a heavy cost of device performance suffering from either reduced efficiency or increased driving voltage.Here,a facile and effective water-treatment approach for QD film to fabricate inverted QLEDs through all solution processing is reported.The water treatment substitutes the long-chain oleate ligands with hydroxyl groups,resulting in significantly improved non-polar solvent resistance of the QD films.Importantly,the QD films reserve their excellent photoluminescence efficiency after water treatment.With the water-treated QD film as the emissive layer,all-solution-processed inverted red QLED with a peak external quantum efficiency of 19.6%,a turn-on voltage of 1.8 V,and a T50 operational lifetime of 150,000 h at 100 cd·m^(-2) was achieved.Furthermore,efficient and low-voltage-driven green and blue QLEDs can also be prepared with this method.This work provides a feasible strategy for the fabrication of high-performance all-solution-processed inverted QLEDs,paving the way toward achieving QLEDs by all ink-jet printing.

On the accurate characterization of quantum-dot light-emitting diodes for display applications

Quantum dot light-emitting diodes(QLEDs)are a class of high-performance solution-processed electroluminescent(EL)devices highly attractive for next-generation display applications.Despite the encouraging advances in the mechanism investigation,material chemistry,and device engineering of QLEDs,the lack of standard protocols for the characterization of QLEDs may cause inaccurate measurements of device parameters and invalid comparison of different devices.Here,we report a comprehensive study on the characterizations of QLEDs using various methods.We show that the emission non-uniformity across the active area,nonLambertian angular distributions of EL intensity,and discrepancies in the adopted spectral luminous efficiency functions could introduce significant errors in the device efficiency.Larger errors in the operational-lifetime measurements may arise from the inaccurate determination of the initial luminance and inconsistent methods for analyzing the luminance-decay curves.Finally,we suggest a set of recommended practices and a checklist for device characterizations,aiming to help the researchers in the QLED field to achieve accurate and reliable measurements.