Rigid crosslinker-assisted nondestructive direct photolithograph for patterned QLED displays

Zhong Chen; Zhongwei Man; Shichao Rao; Jinxing Zhao; Shuaibing Wang; Runtong Zhang; Feng Teng; Aiwei Tang

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01918-7

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Rigid crosslinker-assisted nondestructive direct photolithograph for patterned QLED displays

Original Articles

- Rigid crosslinker-assisted nondestructive direct photolithograph for patterned QLED displays
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 9, Pages: 2656-2664(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Optical Information, Ministry of Education, School of Physical Science and Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
- Author bio：
  
  Zhongwei Man (zwman@bjtu.edu.cn)
  Aiwei Tang (awtang@bjtu.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01918-7
  CLC：
- Received：02 March 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-05-23，
  
  Accepted：07 June 2025，
  
  Published Online：24 July 2025，
  
  Published：30 September 2025
- Accepted：
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Chen, Z. et al. Rigid crosslinker-assisted nondestructive direct photolithograph for patterned QLED displays. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 2656-2664 (2025).
DOI：

Chen, Z. et al. Rigid crosslinker-assisted nondestructive direct photolithograph for patterned QLED displays. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 2656-2664 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-01918-7.

摘要

Abstract

Recently

colloidal quantum dots (QDs) with high luminescent efficiency and tunable colors have become ideal materials for next-generation display devices. Direct photolithography is a powerful tool for patterning QD devices

but it faces the serious issue of degradation in the photophysical properties of the patterned QDs. Here

we use relatively rigid cyclopentane as a bridging group to design the crosslinker CPTA

achieving high-resolution direct photolithography of QDs with nearly nondestructive under ambient conditions. The key to the crosslinker design is the introduction of a rigid bridging group that elevates the LUMO level

providing a stronger energy barrier to prevent QD electrons from being trapped or undergoing non-radiative recombination

thus preserving their PL and EL properties. The efficient and high-resolution RGB line and dot arrays were fabricated with pixel sizes down to 1 μm and a resolution of up to 6350 PPI. The patterned RGB QD films

especially red QDs

maintained their optical and optoelectronic properties

with patterned red QLEDs achieving peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 21% and a maximum luminance (

max

) of ~180

000 cd m

-2

matching pr

istine devices. These results highlight the importance of photo-crosslinker design for nondestructive QDs patterning

paving the way for advanced display applications in patterned QLED technology.

关键词

Keywords

references

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