Light-Emitting Paper

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 25; no. 21; pp. 3238 - 3245
• Main Authors: Asadpoordarvish, Amir, Sandström, Andreas, Larsen, Christian, Bollström, Roger, Toivakka, Martti, Österbacka, Ronald, Edman, Ludvig
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2015
• Subjects: Ag nanowires; all-ambient fabrication; Conversion; Deposition; Devices; Effectiveness; Electrochemical cells; Fault tolerance; Light emission; light-emitting electrochemical cells; paper substrates; spray coating; Surface roughness
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201500528

A solution‐based fabrication of flexible and light‐weight light‐emitting devices on paper substrates is reported. Two different types of paper substrates are coated with a surface‐emitting light‐emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) device: a multilayer‐coated specialty paper with an intermediate surface roughness of 0.4 μm and a low‐end and low‐cost copy paper with a large surface roughness of 5 μm. The entire device fabrication is executed using a handheld airbrush, and it is notable that all of the constituent layers are deposited from solution under ambient air. The top‐emitting paper‐LECs are highly flexible, and display a uniform light emission with a luminance of 200 cd m−2 at a current conversion efficacy of 1.4 cd A−1. A surface‐emitting light‐emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) is fabricated on a conventional low‐cost paper substrate. It is notable that all of the device layers, including the cathode, active material, and anode, are deposited from solution under ambient air using a handheld airbrush. The main merits of the paper‐LEC are the highly flexible and robust form factor, the low weight, and the cost‐efficient and fault‐tolerant fabrication.