High aspect ratio organic light-emitting diodes

Wang, Binyu; Kotadiya, Naresh B.; Kim, Taehwan; Mashack, Ryan; Comfort, Dustin; Huang, Chao; Arneson, Claire E.; Kondakova, Marina; Giebink, Noel C.; Shtein, Max

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-67312-4

High aspect ratio organic light-emitting diodes

Journal Article · Sun Dec 14 00:00:00 EST 2025 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67312-4· OSTI ID:3010510

^[1]; Kotadiya, Naresh B. ^[1]; Kim, Taehwan ^[2]; ^[3]; Comfort, Dustin ^[3]; Huang, Chao ^[1]; ^[1]; Kondakova, Marina ^[3]; ^[1]; ^[1]

Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
OLEDWorks LLC, Rochester, NY (United States)

Reliability is particularly challenging for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) used in solid-state lighting applications, because OLED lifetime is inversely proportional to luminance, and most lighting applications demand high luminance. Here we introduce a strategy to overcome this tradeoff by constructing OLEDs on a substrate with sub-mm, high aspect ratio surface texture. By creating more active OLED area per unit lighting panel area, the device current density required to generate a given panel luminance decreases. We validate this approach for fluorescent and phosphorescent OLEDs, demonstrating good thickness uniformity on corrugated substrates with area enhancement factors up to 1.4x using a standard thermal evaporator. Relative to planar controls at the same panel current density, the high aspect ratio devices achieve a 2.7-fold increase in operating lifetime and up to a 40% increase in external light extraction efficiency, indicating that this approach offers a powerful pathway to improve the efficiency and lifetime of OLED lighting.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0009694

OSTI ID:: 3010510

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 17; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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