Abstract Over the past 25 years, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) have witnessed impressive improvements in materials performance by 3–4 orders of magnitude, and many of the key materials discoveries have been published in Advanced Materials. This includes some of the most recent demonstrations of organic field-effect transistors with performance that clearly exceeds that of benchmark amorphous silicon-based devices. In this article, state-of-the-art in OFETs are reviewed in light of requirements for demanding future applications, in particular active-matrix addressing for flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. An overview is provided over both small molecule and conjugated polymer materials for which field-effect mobilities exceeding > 1 cm2 V–1 s–1 have been reported. Current understanding is also reviewed of their charge transport physics that allows reaching such unexpectedly high mobilities in these weakly van der Waals bonded and structurally comparatively disordered materials with a view towards understanding the potential for further improvement in performance in the future.

Abstract image An afterglow organic light-emitting diode (OLED) that displays electroluminescence with long transient decay after it is turned off is demonstrated. This OLED exhibits blue and green dual emission originating from fluorescence and phosphorescence, respectively. A phosphorescence lifetime of 4.3 s is achieved.

This research work investigates the influence of the annealing process upon the performance of photo-emissive layer of organic light-emitting diode (OLED). The photo-emissive layer consists of a ternary blend of N, N-diphenyl-N,N-bis (3-methylphenyl)-(1,1-biphenyl)-4,4-diamine (TPD), 2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole (PBD) and tris-8-hydroxyquinoline (Alq3), to produce TPD:PBD:Alq3 (at 1:1:1 ratio) blend thin films, in which the material solutions are deposited onto clean substrate via spin-coating method. The samples were annealed at 100°C in 10, 20 and 30 minute of time in an open-air condition. The results reveal that the annealing process at 10 minutes produces an optimum performance of the ternary OLED.

A high-efficiency blue-emitting organic light-emitting diode (OLED) approaching theoretical efficiency using an exciplex-forming co-host composed of N,N′-dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene (mCP) and bis-4,6-(3,5-di-3-pyridylphenyl)- 2-methylpyrimidine (B3PYMPM) is fabricated. Iridium(III)bis[(4,6-difluorophenyl)- pyridinato-N,C2′]picolinate (FIrpic) is used as the emitter, which turns out to have a preferred horizontal dipole orientation in the emitting layer. The OLED shows a maximum external quantum efficiency of 29.5% (a maximum current efficiency of 62.2 cd A−1), which is in perfect agreement with the theoretical prediction.

High-efficiency white OLEDs fabricated on silver nanowire-based composite transparent electrodes show almost perfectly Lambertian emission and superior angular color stability, imparted by electrode light scattering. The OLED efficiencies are comparable to those fabricated using indium tin oxide. The transparent electrodes are fully solution-processable, thin-film compatible, and have a figure of merit suitable for large-area devices.