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Light management for perovskite light-emitting diodes

Abstract

Perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have reached external quantum efficiencies of over 20% for various colours, showing great potential for display and lighting applications. Despite the internal quantum efficiencies of the best-performing devices already approaching unity, around 80% of the internally generated photons are trapped in the devices and lose energy through a variety of lossy channels. Significant opportunities for improving efficiency and maximizing photon extraction lie in the effective management of light. In this Review we analyse light management strategies based on the intrinsic optical properties of the perovskite materials and the extrinsic properties related to device structures. These approaches should allow the external quantum efficiencies of perovskite LEDs to substantially exceed the conventional limits of planar organic LED devices. By revisiting lessons learned from organic LEDs and perovskite solar cells, we highlight possible directions of future research towards perovskite LEDs with ultrahigh efficiencies.

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Fig. 1: Overview of light management in PeLEDs.
Fig. 2: Optical power distributions and losses in PeLEDs.
Fig. 3: Analyses of the photon recycling effect in PeLEDs.
Fig. 4: Effects of transition dipole moment orientations in PeLEDs.
Fig. 5: Micro/nanostructured light scatterers and outcouplers for PeLEDs.
Fig. 6: Refractive index matching and optical microcavity effects in PeLEDs.
Fig. 7: Other light outcoupling approaches for thin-film LEDs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant numbers 2022YFA1204800 and 2018YFB2200401), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant numbers 61975180, 62274144 and 62005243), Kun-Peng Programme of Zhejiang Province (D.D.), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (grant number LR21F050003) (B.Z.), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Zhejiang University Education Foundation Global Partnership Fund (D.D.), Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (grant number NRF-2022R1I1A1A01061848) (A.R.B.M.Y), Ausschuss für Forschungsfragen (AFF) of the University of Konstanz for Young Scholar Fund (A.F.), and European Commision in the framework of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (grant number 101030985 — RADICEL) (A.F.).

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Zhao, B., Vasilopoulou, M., Fakharuddin, A. et al. Light management for perovskite light-emitting diodes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 18, 981–992 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01482-4

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