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Flexible, stretchable, and transparent InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells/polyacrylamide hydrogel-based light emitting diodes

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Abstract

Visualization is a direct, efficient, and simple interface method to realize the interaction between human and machine, whereas the flexible display unit, as the major bottleneck, still deeply hinders the advances of wearable and virtual reality devices. To obtain flexible optoelectronic devices, one of the effective methods is to transfer a high-efficient and long-lifetime inorganic optoelectronic film from its rigid epitaxial substrate to a foreign flexible/soft substrate. Additionally, piezo-phototronic effect is a fundamental theory for guiding the design of flexible optoelectronic devices. Herein, we demonstrate a flexible, stretchable, and transparent InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs)/polyacrylamide (PAAM) hydrogel-based light emitting diode coupling with the piezo-phototronic effect. The quantum well energy band and integrated luminous intensity (increased by more than 31.3%) are significantly modulated by external mechanical stimuli in the device. Benefiting from the small Young’s modulus of hydrogel and weak Van der Waals force, the composite film can endure an extreme tensile condition of about 21.1% stretching with negligible tensile strains transmitted to the InGaN/GaN MQWs. And the stable photoluminescence characteristics can be observed. Moreover, the hydrogen-bond adsorption and excellent transparency of the hydrogel substrate greatly facilitate the packaging and luminescence of the optoelectronic device. And thus, such a novel integration scheme of inorganic semiconductor materials and organic hydrogel materials would help to guide the robust stretchable optoelectronic devices, and show great potential in emerging wearable devices and virtual reality applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank for the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61904012, 52192610, and 52173298), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFA1201603).

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Author notes

  1. Jiwei Chen and Jiangwen Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center on Nanoenergy Research, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Jiwei Chen, Keyu Ji, Bing Jiang, Bingjun Wang, Lingyu Wan & Weiguo Hu

  2. CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Jiwei Chen, Jiangwen Wang, Keyu Ji, Bing Jiang, Xiao Cui, Wei Sha, Bingjun Wang, Xinhuan Dai, Qilin Hua & Weiguo Hu

  3. School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jiangwen Wang, Xiao Cui, Wei Sha, Xinhuan Dai, Qilin Hua & Weiguo Hu

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  1. Jiwei Chen
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Correspondence to Qilin Hua, Lingyu Wan or Weiguo Hu.

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12274_2022_4170_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Flexible, stretchable, and transparent InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells/polyacrylamide hydrogel-based light emitting diodes

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Chen, J., Wang, J., Ji, K. et al. Flexible, stretchable, and transparent InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells/polyacrylamide hydrogel-based light emitting diodes. Nano Res. 15, 5492–5499 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4170-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4170-4

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