Deuterium Oxide for OLEDs

Deuterated organic molecules extending the operational lifetime of OLED displays

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are extensively used in devices such as television and mobile phone screens. OLEDs are generally made of thin layers of organic molecules between two electrodes. The devices emit light when an electric current flows through them.

Until a few years ago, the biggest technical problem for OLEDs was the limited lifetime of the organic materials, typically half that of LCD, LED or PDP, as heat and oxidation generated during operation contribute to the instability of the chemicals. The problem was solved by deuterating some of the organic molecules incorporated in OLEDs, which increases the lifetime of the device by a factor of five to 20 without significantly affecting other properties of the device.

Another application of deuteration in this field is neutron reflectometry, which combined with the deuteration of specific molecular layers has become the key method for studying the morphology, diffusion, and interfacial behavior in organic thin-film semiconducting devices.