Research / Research Highlights

Research Highlights

Research Highlights /

Research Highlights

Prof. Tae-Woo Lee

Water Passivation of Perovskite Nanocrystals Enables Air‐Stable Intrinsically Stretchable Color‐Conversion Layers for Stretchable Displays

Conventional organic light‐emitting devices without an encapsulation layer are susceptible to degradation when exposed to air, so realization of air‐stable intrinsically‐stretchable display is a great challenge because the protection of the devices against penetration of moisture and oxygen is even more difficult under stretching. An air‐stable intrinsically‐stretchable display that is composed of an intrinsically‐stretchable electroluminescent device (SELD) integrated with a stretchable color‐conversion layer (SCCL) that contains perovskite nanocrystals (PeNCs) is proposed. PeNCs normally decay when exposed to air, but they become resistant to this decay when dispersed in a stretchable elastomer matrix; this change is a result of a compatibility between capping ligands and the elastomer matrix. Counterintuitively, the moisture can efficiently passivate surface defects of PeNCs, to yield significant increases in both photoluminescence intensity and lifetime. A display that can be stretched up to 180% is demonstrated; it is composed of an air‐stable SCCL that down‐converts the SELD’s blue emission and reemits it as green. The work elucidates the basis of moisture‐assisted surface passivation of PeNCs and provides a promising strategy to improve the quantum efficiency of PeNCs with the aid of moisture, which allows PeNCs to be applied for air‐stable stretchable displays.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/adma.202001989