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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/Y021495/1
Title: Effects of sub-wavelength photonic nanostructures on thermally-activated delayed fluorescence
Principal Investigator: Ribierre, Dr J
Other Investigators:
Di Falco, Professor A Samuel, Professor I
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Kyushu University (Japan)
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Organisation: University of St Andrews
Scheme: Standard Research
Starts: 01 May 2024 Ends: 30 April 2027 Value (£): 820,307
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Lasers & Optics Optical Phenomena
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Manufacturing Chemicals
Energy
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
25 Oct 2023 EPSRC Physical Sciences Prioritisation Panel A October 2023 Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have become a dominant technology in the display industry and hold great promise for a variety of applications in the fields of lighting, visible communication, sensing and healthcare. Current research efforts focus on the development of thermally-activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) emitters that promise highly efficient and long-lifetime performance without the use of any heavy metals. These materials show a small energy gap between their singlet and triplet energy levels allowing the up-conversion of non-emissive triplets to light-emitting singlets at room temperature via the reverse intersystem crossing process. Although efficient triplet harvesting can take place in TADF OLEDs, the dynamics involved in the TADF mechanism need to be faster to substantially reduce the accumulation of long-lived triplet excitons during the device operation and improve their overall performance.

This project addresses this research challenge by proposing an innovative approach based on the integration of sub-wavelength photonic nanostructures into TADF OLEDs. Via their effects on the local photonic density and the dielectric permittivity of the effective media, the photonic nanostructures will be engineered to accelerate both radiative decay and reverse intersystem crossing rates. This will improve the efficiency of OLEDs, especially at high brightness and increase their lifetime. The successful outcome of the project is expected to lead to an improvement of the TADF OLED technology and will be highly relevant for a range of other applications in fields as diverse as organic optoelectronics, sensing and photochemistry.

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Organisation Website: http://www.st-and.ac.uk