Approaching ultimate flexible organic light-emitting diodes using a graphene anode

Ultimate flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) should have an ultra-high device efficiency, a low-efficiency roll-off at a high luminance and excellent flexibility. Here, we realized flexible tandem OLEDs using a graphene anode with a very high electroluminescent efficiency of ~205.9 cd A−1, 45.2% (~396.4 cd A−1, 87.3% with a hemispherical lens) and a very low efficiency roll-off at a high luminance of ~6.6% at 10 000 cd m−2 (~3.8% with a hemispherical lens) by stacking two organic electroluminescence (EL) units. For the first time, we used an easily controlled and low-temperature processable charge generation layer with lithium nitride (Li3N). This simultaneously provided efficient stacking of EL units and enhanced compatibility of the flexible device on a thin plastic substrate. The flexible tandem OLEDs with a graphene anode also showed great flexibility against bending up to a bending strain of 6.7%. These results represent a significant advancement towards the production of next-generation flexible displays and solid-state lighting that use a graphene anode.