Two-in-one solution for low cost polymer LEDs and solar cells

Two-in-one solution for low cost polymer LEDs and solar cells

July 22, 2013 — Considerable improvement in device performance of polymer-based optoelectronic devices is reported today by researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea. The new plasmonic material, can be applied to both polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) and polymer solar cells (PSCs), with world-record high performance, through a simple and cheap process.

The contrary demands of these devices mean that there are few metal nanoparticles that can enhance performance in PLEDs and PSCs at the same time.

Most semiconducting optoelectronic devices (OEDs), including photodiodes, solar cells, light emitting diodes (LEDs), and semiconductor lasers, are based on inorganic materials. Examples include gallium nitride for light-emitting diodes and silicon for solar cells.

Due to the limited availability of raw materials and the complex processing required to manufacture OEDs based on inorganic materials, the cost of device fabrication is increasing. There is great interest in thin-film OEDs that are made from alternative semiconductors.

Among these materials, organic semiconductors have received much attention for use in next-generation OEDs because of the potential for low-cost and large-area fabrication using solution processing.

Despite extensive efforts to develop new materials and device architectures enhancing the performance of these devices, further improvements in efficiency are needed, before there can be widespread use and commercialization of these technologies.

The material prepared by the UNIST research team is easy to synthesize with basic equipment and has low-temperature solution processability. This low-temperature solution processability enables roll-to-roll mass production techniques and is suitable for printed electronic devices.

Journal Reference:

1. Hyosung Choi, Seo-Jin Ko, Yuri Choi, Piljae Joo, Taehyo Kim, Bo Ram Lee, Jae-Woo Jung, Hee Joo Choi, Myoungsik Cha, Jong-Ryul Jeong, In-Wook Hwang, Myoung Hoon Song, Byeong-Su Kim, Jin Young Kim. Versatile surface plasmon resonance of carbon-dot-supported silver nanoparticles in polymer optoelectronic devices. Nature Photonics, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2013.181