Ultrahigh-Efficiency Sensitization in Hyperfluorescence WOLEDs via Low-Cost Planar Source Evaporation

The industrial advancement of white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) remains constrained by the inherent conflict between high manufacturing costs and stringent performance requirements. Here, we demonstrate a breakthrough in all-fluorescent WOLEDs by simultaneously addressing the intrinsic efficiency limitations of two-color emitters and the complexity of conventional fabrication. We systematically investigated two-color WOLEDs, uncovering the critical role of triplet–triplet annihilation in their efficiency degradation. To overcome these bottlenecks, we first designed and realized high-efficiency three-color WOLEDs incorporating sky-blue, deep-blue, and orange emission layers, based on 5tCzBN, DABNA-1, and 4CzTPNBu dopants in an mCBP bipolar host. Efficient Förster resonance energy transfer, enabled by 5tCzBN sensitization and 4CzTPNBu electron trapping, produced directional excitation of both blue and orange fluorophores, yielding state-of-the-art white electroluminescence with chromatic coordinates (0.326, 0.321). Importantly, we further introduced a planar source evaporation (PSE) technique, which replaces multicomponent microdoping with a material-efficient process, enabling low-cost fabrication of high-performance OLEDs. As a result, our three-color devices reached maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) to 17.24%, while optimized three-color WOLEDs achieved a maximum current efficiency (CEmax) of 69.78 cd/A and EQEmax to 26.35%, alongside low turn-on voltage, high brightness, and an LT50 exceeding 100,000 h (@ 100 cd/m2). By uniting mechanism-level insights with process-level innovation, this work establishes a cost-effective and scalable route for next-generation WOLEDs in lighting and display applications.

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Publication Details

Journal
ACS Photonics
Published
2026-04-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02546
Primary Topic
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Ultrahigh-Efficiency Sensitization in Hyperfluorescence WOLEDs via Low-Cost Planar Source Evaporation

Wan‐Zhen Fo, Bin Wei, Z L Zhang, Qisheng Zhang et al.
ACS Photonics
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research
article

Ultrahigh-Efficiency Sensitization in Hyperfluorescence WOLEDs via Low-Cost Planar Source Evaporation

Wan‐Zhen Fo, Bin Wei, Z L Zhang, Qisheng Zhang, Jun Li
article en

Abstract

The industrial advancement of white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) remains constrained by the inherent conflict between high manufacturing costs and stringent performance requirements. Here, we demonstrate a breakthrough in all-fluorescent WOLEDs by simultaneously addressing the intrinsic efficiency limitations of two-color emitters and the complexity of conventional fabrication. We systematically investigated two-color WOLEDs, uncovering the critical role of triplet–triplet annihilation in their efficiency degradation. To overcome these bottlenecks, we first designed and realized high-efficiency three-color WOLEDs incorporating sky-blue, deep-blue, and orange emission layers, based on 5tCzBN, DABNA-1, and 4CzTPNBu dopants in an mCBP bipolar host. Efficient Förster resonance energy transfer, enabled by 5tCzBN sensitization and 4CzTPNBu electron trapping, produced directional excitation of both blue and orange fluorophores, yielding state-of-the-art white electroluminescence with chromatic coordinates (0.326, 0.321). Importantly, we further introduced a planar source evaporation (PSE) technique, which replaces multicomponent microdoping with a material-efficient process, enabling low-cost fabrication of high-performance OLEDs. As a result, our three-color devices reached maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) to 17.24%, while optimized three-color WOLEDs achieved a maximum current efficiency (CEmax) of 69.78 cd/A and EQEmax to 26.35%, alongside low turn-on voltage, high brightness, and an LT50 exceeding 100,000 h (@ 100 cd/m2). By uniting mechanism-level insights with process-level innovation, this work establishes a cost-effective and scalable route for next-generation WOLEDs in lighting and display applications.

ACS PhotonicsVol. 13(9)
Shanghai University (CN), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN), Zhejiang Zanyu Technology (China) (CN), Ministry of Education (CL), Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics (China) (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 23%
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research
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