Organic wrinkles for energy efficient organic light emitting diodes

Abstract

Extracting the confined light is of critical significance in achieving highly energy efficient organic light emitting diodes. To address the task of extracting the confined light, we here synthesize a new type of liquid prepolymer, which spontaneously forms wrinkles upon ultra-violet light exposure. The spontaneously formed organic wrinkle is successfully applied not only in extracting the confined light but also in inducing angular spectral stability. Simulations demonstrate that the wrinkles can lower incident angle of light impinging on the substrate/air interface and thus help extract a large portion of light delivered to the substrate. In particular, it is shown that geometrical optimization of the size and aspect ratio of wrinkles is important in obtaining the highest light extraction. With the simplicity of the process and size controllability, the proposed wrinkle-based approach can be readily realized over a large area, opening up a new avenue in various photonics applications.