Lanthanide-Containing Conducting Polymers as Emissive Materials
Background This technology represents a novel method of assembling emissive materials with potential applications that include: hybrid, organic, and polymer light-emitting diodes (LEDs), flexible screens and displays, and chemical sensors. A new class of electropolymerizable lanthanide-containing complexes have been synthesized that can be easily converted into highly conductive thin films of conducting polymers, which have lanthanide metal centers judiciously incorporated within the resulting architecture.Invention Description Current technologies in the area of light-emitting materials are plagued by low efficiencies and broad spectral emission. The use of lanthanides as the emitting species has the potential to alleviate both of these problems. The lanthanides are capable of harvesting both the singlet and triplet excitons generated in light-emitting devices, which will increase the overall device efficiency. The lanthanide emission is inherently sharp due to the inner-shell electronic transition from which it emanates. This sharp emission leads to "pure" colors in functioning devices.
The present technology is unique in the way that the lanthanide metals are incorporated into the emissive materials. Through specifically designed chemical synthesis, the emitting center has been directly interfaced with the conducting polymer, thereby improving the communication between the two materials
In summary, the energy transfer from the active host conducting polymer matrix to the lanthanide metal is enhanced, and single-layer devices become a reality. This negates current reliance on multi-layer structures for device functionality.
Benefits
Simple, single layer device architectures Provides sharp luminescence Color purity
Market Potential/Applications Solid-state light emitting diodes Luminescent sensor arrays
Development Stage Proof of concept
IP Status One PCT patent application filed
UT Researcher Bradley J. Holliday, Ph.D., Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Austin
Type of Offer: Licensing
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