Solution-processed PEDOT:PSS:GO/Ag NWs composite electrode for flexible organic light-emitting diodes

Flexible organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted considerable attention for the reason of light weight, high mechanical flexibility in display and lighting. The most widely used transparent anode indium tin oxide (ITO) is unsuitable for flexible OLEDs because of its easy cracking upon bending. In this paper, we proposed a simple two steps solution processing method to fabricate flexible PEDOT:PSS:GO/Ag NWs composite electrodes. The optimized PEDOT:PSS:GO/Ag NWs composite electrode exhibits an optical transmittance of 88.7% at a wavelength of 550 nm and a low sheet resistance of 17 X/sq, which are comparable to that of ITO. With PEDOT:PSS:GO/Ag NWs composite electrodes, the turn on voltage, current density and maximum brightness of OLEDs based on composite electrode were 2.1 V, 6.2 cd/A and 22894 cd/m(2), respectively, which were superior to that OLED based on ITO anode. The enhanced performance of OLEDs based on composite anode mainly attributed to the lower sheet resistance, smoother surface of the composite anode and the far surface plasma resonance (Far SPR) effect, a lower waveguide optical loss because of the introduction of Ag NWs in the electrode. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study proposed a simple yet effective method to fabricate flexible electrodes with optical transparency and sheet resistance comparable to ITO. OLEDs based on these composite electrodes showed superior performance compared to OLEDs with ITO anode due to lower sheet resistance and smoother surface, as well as the Far SPR effect.