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Title: Operating organic light-emitting diodes imaged by super-resolution spectroscopy

Abstract

Super-resolution stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy is adapted here for materials characterization that would not otherwise be possible. With the example of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), spectral imaging with pixel-by-pixel wavelength discrimination allows us to resolve local-chain environment encoded in the spectral response of the semi-conducting polymer, and correlate chain packing with local electroluminescence by using externally applied current as the excitation source. We observe nanoscopic defects that would be unresolvable by traditional microscopy. They are revealed in electroluminescence maps in operating OLEDs with 50 nm spatial resolution. We find that brightest emission comes from regions with more densely packed chains. Conventional microscopy of an operating OLED would lack the resolution needed to discriminate these features, while traditional methods to resolve nanoscale features generally cannot be performed when the device is operating. As a result, this points the way towards real-time analysis of materials design principles in devices as they actually operate.

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States)
  2. IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter, UNIST, Ulsan (South Korea)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Contributing Org.:
Institute for Basic Science
OSTI Identifier:
1252188
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1287272
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-02ER46019
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; 77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; LED; super-resolution; light-emitting; imaging; in situ; 47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; conjugated polymers; charge-transport; fluorescence microscopy; interchain interactions; stimulated-emission; morphology; resolution; poly(p-phenylenevinylene); electroluminescence; conformation

Citation Formats

King, John T., and Granick, Steve. Operating organic light-emitting diodes imaged by super-resolution spectroscopy. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1038/ncomms11691.
King, John T., & Granick, Steve. Operating organic light-emitting diodes imaged by super-resolution spectroscopy. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11691
King, John T., and Granick, Steve. Tue . "Operating organic light-emitting diodes imaged by super-resolution spectroscopy". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11691. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1252188.
@article{osti_1252188,
title = {Operating organic light-emitting diodes imaged by super-resolution spectroscopy},
author = {King, John T. and Granick, Steve},
abstractNote = {Super-resolution stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy is adapted here for materials characterization that would not otherwise be possible. With the example of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), spectral imaging with pixel-by-pixel wavelength discrimination allows us to resolve local-chain environment encoded in the spectral response of the semi-conducting polymer, and correlate chain packing with local electroluminescence by using externally applied current as the excitation source. We observe nanoscopic defects that would be unresolvable by traditional microscopy. They are revealed in electroluminescence maps in operating OLEDs with 50 nm spatial resolution. We find that brightest emission comes from regions with more densely packed chains. Conventional microscopy of an operating OLED would lack the resolution needed to discriminate these features, while traditional methods to resolve nanoscale features generally cannot be performed when the device is operating. As a result, this points the way towards real-time analysis of materials design principles in devices as they actually operate.},
doi = {10.1038/ncomms11691},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = ,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Tue Jun 21 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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