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Organic light-emitting transistors with high efficiency and narrow emission originating from intrinsic multiple-order microcavities

Nature Materials volume 24, pages 917–924 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Narrow electroluminescence is in high demand for high-resolution displays, optical communication and medical phototherapy. Organic light-emitting transistors, as three-terminal electroluminescent devices, offer advantages in simplifying device architecture and achieving high efficiency under gate regulation. However, achieving high efficiency and narrow emission remains a challenge. Here we demonstrate that laterally integrated organic light-emitting transistors with intrinsic multiple-order microcavities can enhance efficiency and narrow emission with a universal capability for different emitters. Full-width at half-maximum values of 18 nm for red, 14 nm for green and 13 nm for blue were achieved with a maximum narrowed degree of 68%. This resulted in an impressive BT.2020 colour gamut of 97%. The peak current efficiency or blue index values for red, green and blue organic light-emitting transistors reached 26.3 cd A−1, 37.3 cd A−1 and 72.6, respectively. Moreover, organic light-emitting transistors exhibit much narrower emission and higher efficiency than equivalent, comparable devices due to their unique gate regulation capability. Our work could enable smart display technologies with high colour purity and enhanced efficiency.

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Fig. 1: Fabrication of narrow-emission OLETs.
Fig. 2: Electrical and optical performance of narrow-emission red, green and blue OLETs.
Fig. 3: Multiple-order microcavity characteristics of OLETs.
Fig. 4: Performances of OLETs and comparable devices.

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Data availability

All the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the Article and its Supplementary Information, as well as from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (grant number 2023YFB3609000 to H.D.), the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 52233010 to H.D., 52473203 to C.G., 22021002 to H.D., 52073210 to W.H. and 52121002 to W.H.), the CAS Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (grant number YSBR-053 to H.D.), Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, the Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (grant number BNLMS-CXXM-202012 to H.D.), and the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (grant number ZR2022ZD37 to H.D.). We thank Y. Liu from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences and H. Dai from the University of Hong Kong for their valuable suggestions regarding this work. We also appreciate Z. Yang from East China Normal University and M. Li from the Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences for their insightful discussions on the interface interactions between the active layers.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Zhagen Miao, Can Gao, Molin Shen.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhagen Miao, Can Gao, Molin Shen, Dan Liu, Zhengsheng Qin, Pu Wang, Yanan Lei & Huanli Dong

  2. Key Laboratory of Organic Integrated Circuit, Ministry of Education & Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

    Zhagen Miao, Xiaotao Zhang & Wenping Hu

  3. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhagen Miao, Molin Shen, Pu Wang & Huanli Dong

  4. BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd., Beijing, China

    Peng Wang & Guangcai Yuan

  5. Shandong Engineering Research Center of Aeronautical Materials and Devices, College of Aeronautical Engineering, Shandong University of Aeronautics, Binzhou, China

    Haikuo Gao

  6. State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, Key Laboratory of Advanced Gas Sensors of Jilin Province, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, China

    Jinbei Wei

  7. State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, P. R. China

    Jian Deng & Yuguang Ma

  8. Centre for Organic Photonics & Electronics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Shih-Chun Lo

  9. Centre for Organic Photonics & Electronics, School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Ebinazar B. Namdas

  10. Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Fuzhou, China

    Wenping Hu

  11. Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin, China

    Wenping Hu

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  1. Zhagen Miao
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Contributions

H.D. and W.H. conceived and supervised this work. Z.M., C.G. and M.S. designed, fabricated and characterized the OLET and OLED devices, conducted the photophysical property characterization of film samples and contributed to the paper writing. Peng W. and G.Y. contributed to the simulation of the spectra of electroluminescent devices with different HTL thicknesses. H.G. discussed the results, helped with the results analysis and provided suggestions on optimizing device operation techniques. J.W. helped with the selection of active materials for OLETs, including emitters, ETLs and HTLs. Y.L. and Pu W. conducted the atomic force microscopy measurements. D.L., Z.Q. and X.Z. contributed to the discussions of the results. J.D. and Y.M. assisted in testing the light distribution curves of the OLET devices. E.B.N. and S.-C.L. contributed to the theoretical simulation of the microcavity effect, discussed the results, provided valuable suggestions and helped revise the paper. H.D. and W.H. discussed the results and revised the paper. All authors discussed the progress of the research and reviewed the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Huanli Dong or Wenping Hu.

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Nature Materials thanks Michele Muccini and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Figs. 1–31, Tables 1–8 and Note 1.

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Miao, Z., Gao, C., Shen, M. et al. Organic light-emitting transistors with high efficiency and narrow emission originating from intrinsic multiple-order microcavities. Nat. Mater. 24, 917–924 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02191-0

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