A General Solvent Selection Strategy for Solution Processed Quantum Dots Targeting High Performance Light-Emitting Diode

An all-solution-processed quantum dots (QDs) light emitting diode (QLED) consists of different layers deposited from various orthogonal solvents. Here, the authors develop a general solvent selection strategy to obtain orthogonal solubility properties as well as high film quality. It is found that a poor QDs film morphology with striation defects often occurs when the QDs film is deposited from bad solvent. A physical model is presented to rationalize the observed striation defects, and then a general solvent selection strategy is proposed to prevent both surface striation defects and the dissolving of the underlying layers by carefully choosing the good solvent for QDs. A compact QDs film can be fabricated without altering the original morphology of underlying functional layers in a QLED device, leading to significant device performance improvement. An external quantum efficiency of 15.45% is achieved in a green QLED with uniform emitting region. This solvent selection strategy provides a general way to deposit high quality films for most of the solution-processed multilayer optoelectronic devices.