Absorption cross-sections of hole polarons in glassy and β-phase polyfluorene

Toward Nonepitaxial Laser Diodes

Thin-film organic, colloidal quantum dot, and metal halide perovskite semiconductors are all being pursued in the quest for a wavelength-tunable diode laser technology that does not require epitaxial growth on a traditional semiconductor substrate. Despite promising demonstrations of efficient light-emitting diodes and low-threshold optically pumped lasing in each case, there are still fundamental and practical barriers that must be overcome to reliably achieve injection lasing. This review outlines the historical development and recent advances of each material system on the path to a diode laser. Common challenges in resonator design, electrical injection, and heat dissipation are highlighted, as well as the different optical gain physics that make each system unique. The evidence to date suggests that continued progress for organic and colloidal quantum dot laser diodes will likely hinge on the development of new materials or indirect pumping schemes, while improvements in device architecture and film processing are most critical for perovskite lasers. In all cases, systematic progress will require methods that can quantify how close new devices get with respect to their electrical lasing thresholds. We conclude by discussing the current status of nonepitaxial laser diodes in the historical context of their epitaxial counterparts, which suggests that there is reason to be optimistic for the future.

Controlling Molecular Conformation for Highly Efficient and Stable Deep-Blue Copolymer Light-Emitting Diodes

We report a novel approach to achieve deep-blue, high-efficiency, and long-lived solution-processed polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) via a simple molecular level conformation change of an emissive conjugated polymer. We introduce rigid β-phase segments into a 95% fluorene-5% arylamine copolymer emissive layer. The arylamine moieties at low density act as efficient exciton formation sites in PLEDs, whereas the conformational change alters the nature of the dominant luminescence from a broad, charge transfer like emission to a significantly blue-shifted and highly vibronically structured excitonic emission. As a consequence, we observe a significant improvement in the Commission International de L'Eclairage ( x, y) coordinates from (0.149, 0.175) to (0.145, 0.123) while maintaining high efficiency and improved stability. We achieve a peak luminous efficiency, η = 3.60 cd/A, and a luminous power efficiency, η_w = 2.44 lm/W, values that represent state-of-the-art performance for single copolymer deep-blue PLEDs. These values are 5-fold better than for otherwise-equivalent, β-phase poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) PLEDs (0.70 cd/A and 0.38 lm/W). This report represents the first demonstration of the use of molecular conformation as a simple but effective method to control the optoelectronic properties of a fluorene copolymer; previous examples have been confined to homopolymers.

Strong main-chain length-dependence for the β-phase formation of oligofluorenes

Wide range chain length-oligofluorenes (9–27 mers) have been synthesized and their optical properties are examined. Interestingly, clear chain length dependence appeared in the absorption and fluorescence functions due to β-phase formation that is a characteristic structure of fluorene materials.