Elastomer Doping Strategy for High-efficiency Stretchable Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Polymer Organic Light-emitting Diodes

Zhao Yang; Wen-Kang Shi; Zhi-Hao Shao; Zi-Han Xiong; Yi-Fan Li; Ming-Liang Zhu; Wei Wen; Cheng Li; Long-Bin Ren; Zhi-Yuan Zhao; Yun-Long Guo; Yun-Qi Liu

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3525-1

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Elastomer Doping Strategy for High-efficiency Stretchable Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Polymer Organic Light-emitting Diodes

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-03-26

- Elastomer Doping Strategy for High-efficiency Stretchable Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Polymer Organic Light-emitting Diodes
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Issue 4, Pages: 970-979(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  b.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Author bio：
  
  zhaozhiyuan@iccas.ac.cn (Z.Y.Z.)
  guoyunlong@iccas.ac.cn (Y.L.G.)
  liuyq@iccas.ac.cn (Y.Q.L.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3525-1
  CLC：
- Received：29 October 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-11-30，
  
  Accepted：03 December 2025，
  
  Online First：02 February 2026，
  
  Published：05 April 2026
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Yang, Z.; Shi, W. K.; Shao, Z. H.; Xiong, Z. H.; Li, Y. F.; Zhu, M. L.; Wen, W.; Li, C.; Ren, L. B.; Zhao, Z. Y.; Guo, Y. L.; Liu, Y. Q. Elastomer doping strategy for high-efficiency stretchable thermally activated delayed fluorescence polymer organic light-emitting diodes. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 970–979

Zhao Yang, Wen-Kang Shi, Zhi-Hao Shao, et al. Elastomer Doping Strategy for High-efficiency Stretchable Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Polymer Organic Light-emitting Diodes[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(4): 970-979.
Yang, Z.; Shi, W. K.; Shao, Z. H.; Xiong, Z. H.; Li, Y. F.; Zhu, M. L.; Wen, W.; Li, C.; Ren, L. B.; Zhao, Z. Y.; Guo, Y. L.; Liu, Y. Q. Elastomer doping strategy for high-efficiency stretchable thermally activated delayed fluorescence polymer organic light-emitting diodes. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 970–979 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3525-1.

Zhao Yang, Wen-Kang Shi, Zhi-Hao Shao, et al. Elastomer Doping Strategy for High-efficiency Stretchable Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Polymer Organic Light-emitting Diodes[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(4): 970-979. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3525-1.

摘要

An elastomer-doping strategy enabling flexible thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) polymers with small Δ

(0.12–0.13 eV) and efficient reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) was reported. Film stretchability increased to 75%. PIDC2-based organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) achieved 14.26% external quantum efficiency (EQE)

while stretchable devices maintained 60% efficiency at 25% strain.

Abstract

The increasing demand for flexible displays and wearable electronics has driven extensive efforts to develop stretchable organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). A critical challenge in this field is the creation of emissive layers that combine high efficiency with mechanical robustness. Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials have attracted significant attention as third-generation emitters capable of achieving 100% internal quantum efficiency; however

their application in stretchable OLEDs has been limited. In this study

we propose an elastomer doping strategy. Polyurethane (PU) is incorporated into TADF polymers to improve their mechanical flexibility while maintaining a high luminescent efficiency. The resulting composite films exhibited excellent TADF characteristics and remarkable stretchability (75%). OLEDs fabricated from these materials achieved a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 14.26% and a peak luminance of 73570 cd·m

–2

with the PU-doped devices showing a significantly suppressed efficiency roll-off. Additionally

a fully stretchable OLED architecture was designed and operated under tensile strain to maintain stable electroluminescent performance. These results demonstrate that elastomer doping is an effective strategy for balancing the mechanical compliance with optoelectronic performance

offering a promising pathway for the development of high-performance stretchable O

LEDs for flexible electronics.

关键词

Keywords

references

Shi, X.; Zuo, Y.; Zhai, P.; Shen, J.; Yang, Y.; Gao, Z.; Liao, M.; Wu, J.; Wang, J.; Xu, X.; Tong, Q.; Zhang, B.; Wang, B.; Sun, X.; Zhang, L.; Pei, Q.; Jin, D.; Chen, P.; Peng, H. Large-area display textiles integrated with functional systems. Nature 2021 , 591 , 240−245..

Kim, R. H.; Kim, D. H.; Xiao, J.; Kim, B. H.; Park, S. I.; Panilaitis, B.; Ghaffari, R.; Yao, J.; Li, M.; Liu, Z.; Malyarchuk, V.; Kim, D. G.; Le, A. P.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Kaplan, D. L.; Omenetto, F. G.; Huang, Y.; Kang, Z.; Rogers, J. A. Waterproof alingap optoelectronics on stretchable substrates with applications in biomedicine and robotics. Nat. Mater. 2010 , 9 , 929−937..

Choi, S.; Na, Y.; Lee, J.; Choi, K. C. 41.1: invited paper : [invited ] Textile-OLEDs with high wearing comfort used for fashion displays and phototherapy applications. SID Symp. Dig. Tech. Pap. 2021 , 52 , 279−279..

Yu, H.; Kim, J.; Kim, H.; Barange, N.; Jiang, X.; So, F. Direct acoustic imaging using a piezoelectric organic light-emitting diode. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020 , 12 , 36409−36416..

Liang, J.; Li, L.; Tong, K.; Ren, Z.; Hu, W.; Niu, X.; Chen, Y.; Pei, Q. Silver nanowire percolation network soldered with graphene oxide at room temperature and its application for fully stretchable polymer light-emitting diodes. ACS Nano 2014 , 8 , 1590−1600..

[Kim, J. H.; Park, J. W. Intrinsically stretchable organic light-emitting diodes. Sci. Adv . 2021 , 7 , eabd9715..

Gao, H.; Chen, S.; Liang, J.; Pei, Q. Elastomeric light emitting polymer enhanced by interpenetrating networks. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2016 , 8 , 32504−32511..

Thompson, A. J.; Chong, B. S. K.; Kenny, E. P.; Evans, J. D.; Powell, J. A.; Spackman, M. A.; McMurtrie, J. C.; Powell, B. J.; Clegg, J. K. Origins of elasticity in molecular materials. Nat. Mater. 2025 , 24 , 356−360..

Patel, N. K.; Cina, S.; Burroughes, J. H. High-efficiency organic light-emitting diodes. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 2002 , 8 , 346−361..

[Xu, J.; Wang, S.; Wang,G. J. N.; Zhu, C.; Luo, S.; Jin, L.; Gu, X.; Chen, S.; Feig, V. R.; To, J. W. F.; Rondeau-Gagné, S.; Park, J.; Schroeder, B. C.; Lu, C.; Oh, J. Y.; Wang, Y.; Kim, Y. H.; Yan, H.; Sinclair, R.; Zhou, D.; Xue, G.; Murmann, B.; Linder, C.; Cai, W.; Tok, J. B. H.; Chung, J. W.; Bao, Z. Highly stretchable polymer semiconductor films through the nanoconfinement effect. Science 2017 , 355 , 59–64..

Baldo, M. A.; O’Brien, D. F.; You, Y.; Shoustikov, A.; Sibley, S.; Thompson, M. E.; Forrest, S. R. Highly efficient phosphorescent emission from organic electroluminescent devices. Nature 1998 , 395 , 151−154..

Lee, J.; Chen, H. F.; Batagoda, T.; Coburn, C.; Djurovich, P. I.; Thompson, M. E.; Forrest, S. R. Deep blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with very high brightness and efficiency. Nat. Mater. 2016 , 15 , 92−98..

Li, H.; Chen, C.; Ye, Z.; Feng, K.; Huang, J.; Xie, G.; Tao, Y. Purely organic room temperature phosphorescent materials toward organic light-emitting diodes. FlexMat 2024 , 1 , 173−192..

Pei, R.; Xu, Y.; Miao, J.; Peng, H.; Chen, Z.; Zhou, C.; Liu, H.; Yang, C. A tetrahedral bisacridine donor enables fast radiative decay in thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023 , 62 , e202217080..

Zhang, C.; Lu, Y.; Liu, Z.; Zhang, Y.; Wang, X.; Zhang, D.; Duan, L. A π–d and π–a exciplex-forming host for high-efficiency and long-lifetime single-emissive-layer fluorescent white organic light-emitting diodes. Adv. Mater. 2020 , 32 , 2004040..

Lee, H.; Braveenth, R.; Muruganantham, S.; Jeon, C. Y.; Lee, H. S.; Kwon, J. H. Efficient pure blue hyperfluorescence devices utilizing quadrupolar donor-acceptor-donor type of thermally activated delayed fluorescence sensitizers. Nat. Commun. 2023 , 14 , 419..

Xiao, Y.; Xie, Z.; Shen, M.; Wang, H.; Li, J.; Huang, R.; Yu, T. Construction of multi-decay pathways and realizing polymer-regulated organic smart luminescent materials. FlexMat 2024 , 1 , 193−202..

Rao, J.; Liu, X.; Li, X.; Yang, L.; Zhao, L.; Wang, S.; Ding, J.; Wang, L. Bridging small molecules to conjugated polymers: efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence with a methyl-substituted phenylene linker. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020 , 59 , 1320−1326..

[Liu, Y.; Yan, S.; Ren, Z. π-conjugated polymeric light emitting diodes with sky-blue emission by employing thermally activated delayed fluorescence mechanism. Chem. Eng. J . 2021 , 417 , 128089..

Liu, Y.; Xie, G.; Ren, Z.; Yan, S. Thermally activated delayed fluorescence polymer emitters with tunable emission from yellow to warm white regulated by triphenylamine derivatives. ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. 2019 , 1 , 2204−2212..

Guo, Y.; Zhao, J.; Chen, L.; Zhao, H.; Li, S.; Liu, Y.; Yan, S.; Ren, Z. Constructing intramolecular locks in the backbones of tadf conjugated polymers for high-performance solution-processed oleds. Small 2025 , 21 , 2502892..

Liu, S.; Tian, Y.; Yan, L.; Wang, S.; Zhao, L.; Tian, H.; Ding, J.; Wang, L. Color tuning in thermally activated delayed fluorescence polymers with carbazole and tetramethylphenylene backbone. Macromolecules 2023 , 56 , 876−882..

Yang, Y.; Zhao, L.; Wang, S.; Ding, J.; Wang, L. Red-emitting thermally activated delayed fluorescence polymers with poly(fluorene- co -3,3′-dimethyl diphenyl ether) as the backbone. Macromolecules 2018 , 51 , 9933−9942..

Liu, Y.; Wang, Y.; Li, C.; Ren, Z.; Ma, D.; Yan, S. Efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence conjugated polymeric emitters with tunable nature of excited states regulated via carbazole derivatives for solution-processed oleds. Macromolecules 2018 , 51 , 4615−4623..

Wang, T.; Yao, B.; Li, K.; Chen, Y.; Zhan, H.; Yi, X.; Xie, Z.; Cheng, Y. Backbone-acceptor/pendant-donor strategy for efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence conjugated polymers with external quantum efficiency close to 25% and emission peak at 608 nm. Adv. Opt. Mater. 2021 , 9 , 2001981..

Liu, Y.; Xie, Y.; Hua, L.; Li, S.; Tong, X.; Ying, S.; Yan, S.; Ren, Z. High-Efficiency tadf polymers with a spatially confined conjugated backbone enable solution-processable blue oleds realizing over 20% EQE. Adv. Opt. Mater. 2024 , 12 , 2301811..

Hua, L.; Liu, Y.; Zhao, H.; Chen, S.; Zhang, Y.; Yan, S.; Ren, Z. Constructing high-efficiency orange-red thermally activated delayed fluorescence polymers by excited state energy levels regulation via backbone engineering. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2023 , 33 , 2303384..

Wang, T.; Zou, Y.; Huang, Z.; Li, N.; Miao, J.; Yang, C. Narrowband emissive tadf conjugated polymers towards highly efficient solution-processible oleds. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022 , 61 , e202211172..

Wang, T.; Huang, Z.; Zhang, H.; Miao, J.; Yang, C. Multi-Resonance tadf conjugated polymers toward highly efficient solution-processible narrowband green oleds. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2024 , 34 , 2408119..

Luo, W.; Wang, T.; Huang, Z.; Huang, H.; Li, N.; Yang, C. Blue tadf conjugated polymers with multi-resonance feature toward solution-processable narrowband blue oleds. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2024 , 34 , 2310042..

Jao, C. C.; Chang, J. R.; Ya, C. Y.; Chen, W. C.; Cho, C. J.; Lin, J. H.; Chiu, Y. C.; Zhou, Y.; Kuo, C. C. Novel stretchable light-emitting diodes based on conjugated-rod block elastic-coil copolymers. Polym. Int. 2021 , 70 , 426−431..

Zhang, Z.; Wang, W.; Jiang, Y.; Wang, Y. X.; Wu, Y.; Lai, J. C.; Niu, S.; Xu, C.; Shih, C. C.; Wang, C.; Yan, H.; Galuska, L.; Prine, N.; Wu, H. C.; Zhong, D.; Chen, G.; Matsuhisa, N.; Zheng, Y.; Yu, Z.; Wang, Y.; Dauskardt, R.; Gu, X.; Tok, J. B. H.; Bao, Z. High-brightness all-polymer stretchable led with charge-trapping dilution. Nature 2022 , 603 , 624−630..

Han, S. J.; Zhou, H.; Kwon, H.; Woo, S.; Lee, T. Achieving low-voltage operation of intrinsically-stretchable organic light-em itting diodes. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2023 , 33 , 2211150..

Jeong, M. W.; Ma, J. H.; Shin, J.S.; Kim, J. S.; Ma, G.; Nam, T. U.; Gu, X.; Kang, S. J.; Oh, J. Y. Intrinsically stretchable three primary light-emitting films enabled by elastomer blend for polymer light-emitting diodes. Sci. Adv. 2023 , 9 , eadh1504..

Liu, W.; Zhang, C.; Alessandri, R.; Diroll, B. T.; Li, Y.; Liang, H.; Fan, X.; Wang, K.; Cho, H.; Liu, Y.; Dai, Y.; Su, Q.; Li, N.; Li, S.; Wai, S.; Li, Q.; Shao, S.; Wang, L.; Xu, J.; Zhang, X.; Talapin, D. V.; De Pablo, J. J.; Wang, S. High-efficiency stretchable light-emitting polymers from thermally activated delayed fluorescence. Nat. Mater. 2023 , 22 , 1160−1160..

Tomkeviciene, A.; Grazulevicius, J. V.; Kazlauskas, K.; Gruodis, A.; Jursenas, S.; Ke, T. H.; Wu, C. C. Impact of linking topology on the properties of carbazole trimers and dimers. J. Phys. Chem. C 2011 , 115 , 4887−4897..

Views

165

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

Pyrazino[2,3-f][1,10]phenanthroline Derivatives as Photoredox Catalysts for Photoinduced Organocatalyzed Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (O-ATRP) at ppm-Level Loading

Achieving Enhanced Optical Transparency and Low-dielectric Properties in Meta-substituted Copolyimides for Flexible Substrates

In situ Generation of Carbazole-triazine Thermally Activated Delayed Fluoresscence Emitters within the Conjugated Polymer Chain

Molecular Segregation and Melt Memory in Dilute Polycaprolactone with Reduced Entanglements

End-group and Side-chain Dual-engineering of Selenium-fused Acceptors for 20.08% Efficiency Polymer Solar Cells with Low Energy Loss

Related Author

Chang-Li Lü

Bei Liu

Wan-Chao Hu

Wen-Zhe Xu

Zi-Yang Liu

Yan-Yu Gao

Cheng Wang

Qian-Qian Yu

Related Institution

Jilin Provincial key Laboratory of Sustainable Advanced Functional Materials, College of Chemistry, Northeast Normal University

South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology, School of Emergent Soft Matter, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional and Intelligent Hybrid Materials and Devices, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Energy and Information Polymer Materials, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology

Guangdong Provincial Laboratory of Chemistry and Fine Chemical Engineering Jieyang Center

Federal Research Center "Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS", 50 Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk

⁰