Featuring a combination of ultrathin and lightweight properties, excellent mechanical flexibility, low power-consumption, and widely tunable saturated emission, flexible displays have opened up a new possibility for optoelectronics. The demands for flexible displays are growing on a continual basis due not only to their successful commercialization but, more importantly, their endless possibilities for wearable integrated systems. Up to now, self-emissive technologies for displays, flexible active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes (flex-AMOLED), flexible quantum dot light-emitting diodes (flex-QLEDs), and flexible perovskite light-emitting diodes (flex-PeLEDs) have been widely reported, but despite the significant progress made in these technologies, enormous obstacles and challenges remain for the vision of truly wearable applications, in particular with flex-QLEDs and flex-PeLEDs. Here, a review of the recent progress of all three self-emissive technologies for flexible displays is conducted, including the emissive active materials, device structures and approaches to manufacturing, the flexible substrates, and conductive electrodes, as well as the encapsulation techniques. The fast-paced improvement made to the efficiency of flexible devices in recent years is also summarized. The review concludes by making suggestions on the future development in this area, and is expected to help researchers in gaining a comprehensive understanding about the newly emerging technologies for flexible displays.

Emerging Self-Emissive Technologies for Flexible Displays

Welded silver nanowire networks as high-performance transparent conductive electrodes: Welding techniques and device applications

Highly transparent low resistance ATO/AgNWs/ATO flexible transparent conductive thin films

OLEDs with convenient portability, low power consumption, and mechanical flexibility have successfully demonstrated their wide range of applications in display, lighting, and medical devices. With the biological requirement and continuous development of electronic technology, the OLEDs have opened up new possibilities for wearable electronic devices. Plentiful reports have revealed the progress of OLED devices with excellent performance of mechanical strain, involving flexible electrodes, processing technology, and advanced fabrication. In this review, the OLED processing methods are systematically discussed, and the development of flexible electrodes has been focused in terms of mechanical strain. In addition, the OLED performance with flexible electrodes also is described. The review provides a comprehensive understanding of OLEDs that can withstand the mechanical strain and achieve commercial maturity.

Performance of OLED under mechanical strain: a review

So far, one of the fundamental limitations of silver nanowires (Ag NWs) is the high contact resistance among their junctions. Moreover, a rough surface due to its random arrangement is inevitable t...

Facile Fabrication of Highly Conductive, Ultrasmooth, and Flexible Silver Nanowire Electrode for Organic Optoelectronic Devices.

Highly conductive silver nanowire transparent electrode by selective welding for organic light emitting diode

The invention discloses a low-temperature preparation method of a metal nanowire transparent conducting thin film which is ultralow in roughness and high in conductivity. The method comprises the steps of preparing a transparent flexible buffer layer of a certain thickness on the surface of a substrate; uniformly laying and extending metal nanowires onto the flexible buffer layer; and after low-temperature drying is completed, completely welding the metal nanowires to one another through a method of conducting normal-temperature pressurization on the metal nanowires, so that after inter-wire contact resistance is basically eliminated, the thin film ultrahigh in conductivity is obtained. Meanwhile, the metal nanowires are embedded into the flexible buffer layer, so that surface roughness of the thin film is greatly lowered. The method is convenient to operate and capable of being used for large-scale production. The whole procedure is implemented in a low-temperature environment, and the effect of applying the transparent conducting thin film to a flexible high polymer substrate which is not resistant to high temperature is achieved; and meanwhile, the thin film is ultralow in surface roughness, ultrahigh in conductivity and high in light transmittance and can be applied to the photoelectric fields such as organic light emitting diodes, sensors and solar cells as an electrode.

Xi Xin

Papers

Highly conductive silver nanowire transparent electrode by selective welding for organic light emitting diode

Low-temperature preparation method of metal nanowire transparent conducting thin film