Stable Bending Performance of Flexible Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Using IZO Anodes

We report luminescent characteristics and mechanical stability of a flexible organic light-emitting diode (FOLED) using an amorphous ZnO-doped In2O3 (a-IZO) anode with a low sheet resistance of 18.9 Omega/square and a high optical transparency of 86%. The FOLED consisting of a-IZO/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/poly[(9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-(benzo[2,1,3]thiadiazol-4,8-diyl)] (F8BT)/LiF/Al exhibits the efficient luminescent characteristics, which are nearly identical with the photoluminescence spectrum of the organic emitting material in our FOLED. This observation clearly indicates that the luminescent characteristics of the FOLED are solely ascribed to molecular exciton formation within the F8BT layer, since exciplex and charge transfer exciton formation are strictly suppressed by both tunneling/thermionic injection of holes at the PEDOT: PSS/F8BT interface and enhanced hole transport. Furthermore, the use of the considerably flexible a-IZO anode and PEDOT: PSS acting as a strain-relief buffering material enables good retention of the efficient luminescent characteristics of the FOLED even after continuous bending of up to 1000 times.