Mapping Capillary Infiltration-Induced Potential in Water-Triggered Electric Generator Using an Electrical Probe Integrated Microscope.

Power generation from water-triggered capillary action in porous structures has recently geared extensive attention, offering the potential for generating electricity from ubiquitous water evaporation. However, conclusively establishing the nature of electrical generation and charge transfer is extremely challenging arising from the complicated aqueous solid-liquid interfacial phenomenon. Here, an electric probe-integrated microscope is developed to on-line monitor the correlation between water capillary action and potential values at any desired position of an active layer. With a probe spatial resolution reaching up to fifty micrometers, the internal factors prevailing over the potential distribution across the whole wet and dry regions are comprehensively identified. Further, the self-powered sensing capabilities of this integrated system are also demonstrated, including real-time monitoring of wind speed, environmental humidity, ionic strength, and inclination angle of generators. The combination of electric potential and chemical color indicator suggests that charge generation is likely correlated with ion-selective transport in the nanoporous channel during the water infiltration process. And unipolar ions (for instance protons) should be the dominant charge-transfer species. The work reveals the fundamental principles regulating charge generation/transfer during the water-triggered electric generation process.

Microcavity coupled quantum dot emission with detuning control.

Solution processed colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have size-tunable optical transitions and high quantum efficiencies, enabling various applications in opto-electronic devices. To enrich the functionality of QD-based opto-electronic devices, colloidal semiconductor QDs have been frequently coupled with optical cavities to enable emission modulation. However, it remains a challenge to fully understand the interaction between the optical cavity resonance and the QD emission, especially for the planar optical microcavities. Here, we have investigated the light emission of colloidal semiconductor QDs in the planar Fabry-Perot microcavity consisted of two Ag mirrors. With the matched QD and cavity resonance, the microcavity coupled QD samples show a prominently narrower emission linewidth and emission angle range because of the efficient QD-cavity coupling, while with a slightly positive or negative energy detuning, the linewidth and angular distribution of the microcavity coupled QD emission both become broadened. Furthermore, with the standard lithography technique, the microcavity coupled QD sample can be patterned into arbitrary geometries, showing extra features of in-plane mode confinement. Our work highlights the important role of detuning in determining the coupling between colloidal semiconductor QDs and microcavities and paves the way for the future design of microcavity coupled QD devices.

Laser speckle formed disordered micro-meander structures for light extraction enhancement of flexible organic light-emitting diodes.

A new approach for efficiently recovering the wasted light energy in conventional flexible organic light-emitting diodes (FOLEDs) is developed by implementing disordered micro-meander structures (DMMs) via laser speckle holography technology. Compared to conventional flat device architecture, the structured FOLEDs with DMMs result in substantial improvement of the device efficiency and superior angular color stability. The resulting current efficiency (CE) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) are 1.31 and 1.39 times that of a common flat structure, respectively. Moreover, the proposed DMMs micro-structure simultaneously offers the unique characteristics of angular color stability with a wide viewing angle, which is usually considered as the criteria of the high-quality lighting applications. We hope that the demonstrated method could provide an alternative way for the development of high efficiency flexible OLEDs.

Mask-Free Patterned Perovskite Microcavity Arrays via Inkjet Printing Targeting Laser Emission.

Perovskite materials are promising candidates for the implementation of electrically pumped lasers considering the enhanced performance of perovskite-based light-emitting diodes. Nonetheless, current methods of fabricating perovskite optical microcavities require complex patterning technologies to build suitable resonant cavities for perovskite laser emission, burdening the device structure design. To address this issue, we applied inkjet printing, a maskless patterning technique, to directly create spontaneous formations of polycrystalline perovskite microcavity arrays to explore their laser-emitting action. The substrate surface tension was tuned to modulate the perovskite crystallization process in combination with optimization of printing ink recipes. As a result, polycrystalline perovskite microcavity arrays were achieved, contributing to the laser emission at 528 nm with a lasing threshold of 1.37 mJ/cm2, while simultaneously achieving high-definition patterning of flexible display. These results clearly illustrate the efficiency of inkjet printing technology in the preparation of polycrystalline perovskite optical microcavities and promote the development of flexible laser arrayed displays, providing a facile process toward the realization of perovskite-cavity laser devices.

Revealing a Zinc Oxide/Perovskite Luminescence Quenching Mechanism Targeting Low-Roll-off Light-Emitting Diodes.

Balanced charge injection is key to achieving perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) with a low efficiency roll-off at a high brightness. The use of zinc oxide (ZnO) with a high electron mobility as the charge transport layers is desirable; however, photoluminescence (PL) quenching of a perovskite on ZnO always occurs. Here, a quasi-two-dimensional perovskite on ZnO is explored to uncover the PL quenching mechanism, mainly ascribed to the deprotonation of ammonium cations on the ZnO film in association with the decomposition of low-dimensional perovskite phases. Surprisingly, crystal plane-dependent PL quenching results indicate that the deprotonation rate strongly correlates with the crystal orientation of the ZnO surface. We developed a strategy for suppressing perovskite PL quenching by incorporating an atomic layer deposited Al2O3 onto the ZnO film. Consequently, an efficient inverted PeLED was achieved with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 17.7% and a less discernible efficiency roll-off at a high current density.

Unveiling the critical role of ammonium bromide in blue emissive perovskite films.

Implementation of ammonium halides to trigger low-dimensional perovskite formation has been intensively investigated to achieve blue perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). However, the general roles of the incorporated ammonium cations on the quality of the perovskite films, as well as device performance, are still unclear. It is indispensable to build a guideline to rationalize ammonium halides for decent blue emissive films. Here, by thoroughly investigating a series of ammonium cations containing the different number of ammonium groups and ionic radius, we reveal that the mechanism beyond the tunable emission wavelength, crystallization kinetics, and spectral stability of the obtained blue perovskite films is highly relevant to the molecular structure of the ammonium cations. In parallel with reducing the dimensionality to form normal Ruddlesden-Popper phases, the incorporated ammonium cations also likely modulate the Pb-Br orbit coupling through A-site engineering and generate either Dion-Jacobson or "hollow" perovskites, providing alternative routes to achieve efficient and stable blue emissive films. Our work paves a way to rationalize ammonium halides to develop prevailing active layers for further improving the performance of blue PeLEDs.

Efficient and Bright Pure-Blue All-Inorganic Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes from an Ecofriendly Alloy.

Metal halide perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) have been regarded as alternative candidates for full-color display applications with rapid progress to surge the external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) over 20%. However, in contrast to the high efficiencies of green, red, and near-infrared PeLEDs, the performance of their blue cousins is still lagging behind, especially the pure-blue one. Obtaining blue perovskite films with negligible nonradiative recombination loss and high stability is of great importance to realize efficient and spectrally stable blue PeLEDs. In this work, through partially replacing the toxic lead ions (Pb2+) with ecofriendly strontium ions (Sr2+) to tune the emission wavelength along with using passivation strategies, all-inorganic pure-blue perovskite films with a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 60.7% were achieved, which then delivered PeLEDs with a luminance of 510 cd m-2 and an EQE of 1.43%. The device yields a record radiance among the most efficient PeLEDs at 467 nm. In addition, the resultant PeLEDs displayed exceptional spectral stability during the electrical bias operation. Our work provides a promising avenue to develop environmentally friendly perovskite materials for efficient and spectrally stable pure-blue PeLEDs and beyond.