Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Organic intercalation strategy for efficient all-evaporated perovskite light-emitting diodes

Nature Photonics (2026)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) fabricated through thermal evaporation are well suited for large-scale industrial production, owing to their compatibility with existing display panel manufacturing lines. However, the performance of all-evaporated PeLEDs lags behind that of their solution-processed counterparts, primarily due to the high defect density in evaporated perovskite films. Here we develop a sequential deposition combined with organic intercalation (SDOI) strategy to fabricate high-quality perovskite films by incorporating the multifunctional organic molecule phenformin hydrochloride (PFCl) into the perovskite crystallization process. The PFCl intercalation effectively prevents direct contact between the Cs and Pb precursors, thereby boosting the formation of reduced-dimensional perovskite films with highly uniform crystallographic orientation. Moreover, PFCl effectively passivates various types of defect, serving a dual role as both an organic spacer cation and a passivating agent. As a result, we demonstrate SDOI-based sky-blue PeLEDs with an external quantum efficiency of 20.12% and a maximum luminance of 23,704 cd m−2. We also apply the SDOI strategy for the fabrication of high-performance green PeLEDs, demonstrating the method’s generality. Moreover, we integrate the SDOI-based all-evaporated PeLEDs into thin-film transistor-driven active-matrix display panels, demonstrating the potential of the SDOI strategy for display applications. Our SDOI strategy paves the way for efficient all-evaporated PeLEDs and their scaling up for practical applications.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Performance of the all-evaporated PeLEDs.
Fig. 2: Characteristics of the thermally evaporated perovskite films and device.
Fig. 3: Optical properties of the thermally evaporated perovskite films.
Fig. 4: Schematic illustration of the SDOI strategy.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The minimum dataset required to interpret, verify and extend the findings of this study is available in the Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper.

References

  1. Fakharuddin, A. et al. Perovskite light-emitting diodes. Nat. Electron. 5, 203–216 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Han, T.-H. et al. A roadmap for the commercialization of perovskite light emitters. Nat. Rev. Mater. 7, 757–777 (2022).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Liu, X. et al. Metal halide perovskites for light-emitting diodes. Nat. Mater. 20, 10–21 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Yang, D. et al. Toward stable and efficient perovskite light-emitting diodes. Adv. Funct. Mater. 32, 2109495 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Cui, J. et al. Efficient light-emitting diodes based on oriented perovskite nanoplatelets. Sci. Adv. 7, eabg8458 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bhaumik, S., Kar, M. R., Thorat, B. N., Bruno, A. & Mhaisalkar, S. G. Vacuum-processed metal halide perovskite light-emitting diodes: prospects and challenges. ChemPlusChem. 86, 558–573 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Du, P. et al. Thermal evaporation for halide perovskite optoelectronics: fundamentals, progress, and outlook. Adv. Opt. Mater. 10, 2101770 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Luo, J. et al. Vapour-deposited perovskite light-emitting diodes. Nat. Rev. Mater. 9, 282–294 (2024).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Du, P. et al. Vacuum-deposited blue inorganic perovskite light-emitting diodes. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11, 47083–47090 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Du, P. et al. Efficient and large-area all vacuum-deposited perovskite light-emitting diodes via spatial confinement. Nat. Commun. 12, 4751 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Guo, Q. et al. Spectra stable deep-blue light-emitting diodes based on cryolite-like cerium(IIi) halides with nanosecond d-f emission. Sci. Adv. 8, 2148 (2022).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Chiang, Y. H., Anaya, M. & Stranks, S. D. Multisource vacuum deposition of methylammonium-free perovskite solar cells. ACS Energy Lett. 5, 2498–2504 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ávila, J. et al. High voltage vacuum-deposited CH3NH3PBI3–CH3NH3PBI3 tandem solar cells. Energy Environ. Sci. 11, 3292–3297 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Li, J. et al. Efficient all-thermally evaporated perovskite light-emitting diodes for active-matrix displays. Nat. Photon. 17, 435–441 (2023).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Peng, C. et al. High-performance thermally evaporated blue perovskite light-emitting diodes enabled by post-evaporation passivation. Chem. Eng. J. 499, 155955 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kong, L. et al. Fabrication of red-emitting perovskite LEDs by stabilizing their octahedral structure. Nature 631, 73–79 (2024).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Xing, Z. et al. Ions-induced assembly of perovskite nanocomposites for highly efficient light-emitting diodes with eqe exceeding 30%. Adv. Mater. 36, 2406706 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Gao, Y. et al. Highly efficient blue light-emitting diodes based on mixed-halide perovskites with reduced chlorine defects. Sci. Adv. 10, eado5645 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Cao, Y. et al. Perovskite light-emitting diodes based on spontaneously formed submicrometre-scale structures. Nature 562, 249–253 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Zhu, L. et al. Unveiling the additive-assisted oriented growth of perovskite crystallite for high performance light-emitting diodes. Nat. Commun. 12, 5081 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Liu, Y. et al. Efficient blue light-emitting diodes based on quantum-confined bromide perovskite nanostructures. Nat. Photon. 13, 760–764 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Wang, N. et al. Perovskite light-emitting diodes based on solution-processed self-organized multiple quantum wells. Nat. Photon. 10, 699–704 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Chu, Z. et al. Blue light-emitting diodes based on quasi-two-dimensional perovskite with efficient charge injection and optimized phase distribution via an alkali metal salt. Nat. Electron. 6, 360–369 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Yuan, S. et al. Efficient blue electroluminescence from reduced-dimensional perovskites. Nat. Photon. 18, 425–431 (2024).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Ma, D. et al. Distribution control enables efficient reduced-dimensional perovskite leds. Nature 599, 594–598 (2021).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Liu, A. et al. Optimizing perovskite surfaces to enhance post-treatment for efficient blue mixed-halide perovskite light-emitting diodes. Adv. Mater. 37, e2414788 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Ding, S. et al. Phase dimensions resolving of efficient and stable perovskite light-emitting diodes at high brightness. Nat. Photon. 18, 363–370 (2024).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Min, H. et al. Spin coating epitaxial heterodimensional tin perovskites for light-emitting diodes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 19, 632–637 (2024).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Yuan, M. et al. Perovskite energy funnels for efficient light-emitting diodes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 11, 872–877 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Fei, C. et al. Lead-chelating hole-transport layers for efficient and stable perovskite minimodules. Science 380, 823–829 (2023).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Zhao, W. et al. A special additive enables all cations and anions passivation for stable perovskite solar cells with efficiency over 23%. Nanomicro Lett. 13, 169 (2021).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Shi, P. et al. Oriented nucleation in formamidinium perovskite for photovoltaics. Nature 620, 323–327 (2023).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. Liu, C. et al. Concurrent top and buried surface optimization for flexible perovskite solar cells with high efficiency and stability. Adv. Funct. Mater. 33, 2212698 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Jang, C. H. et al. Multifunctional conjugated molecular additives for highly efficient perovskite light-emitting diodes. Adv. Mater. 35, 2210511 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Zhao, J. et al. Strained hybrid perovskite thin films and their impact on the intrinsic stability of perovskite solar cells. Sci. Adv. 3, eaao5616 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2022YFA1204800), Innovative Research Groups of the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (grant no. 2023AFA034) and Department of Science and Technology of Hubei Province (grant no. 2023BAB102).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Chencheng Peng, Zhiyuan He, Feihu Zhang, Nana Wang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Chencheng Peng, Zhiyuan He, Feihu Zhang, Ben Chen, Xiping He, Jingdong Chen, Runda Guo & Lei Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics, Institute of Advanced Materials, School of Flexible Electronics (Future Technologies), Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China

    Nana Wang, Shuang Xu, Wei Zhu & Jianpu Wang

  3. National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Technical Fiber Composites for Safety and Health, School of Textile and Clothing, Nantong University, Nantong, China

    Jianpu Wang

Authors
  1. Chencheng Peng
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhiyuan He
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Feihu Zhang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Nana Wang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Shuang Xu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ben Chen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Xiping He
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jingdong Chen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Wei Zhu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Runda Guo
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Jianpu Wang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Lei Wang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Contributions: R.G., J.W. and L.W. supervised the whole project. C.P. designed and performed most of the experiments, characterizations and analysis; C.P., Z.H., F.Z. and B.C. were involved in the EL device fabrication and optimization; Z.H., F.Z., W.Z. and S.X. provided the optical characterizations; X.H. and J.C. assisted in device measurement; C.P., Z.H., F.Z., N.W., R.G., J.W. and L.W. analysed the data. C.P. wrote the first draft of the paper; N.W., R.G., J.W. and L.W. provided substantial revisions. All authors discussed the results and commented on the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Runda Guo, Jianpu Wang or Lei Wang.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Photonics thanks Zhiyong Fan, Fanglong Yuan, Chunfeng Zhang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information (download PDF )

Supplementary Figs. 1–20 and Tables 1 and 2.

Supplementary Video 1 (download MP4 )

Video demonstrating the operational performance of the PeLED.

Source Data for Supplementary Figures (download XLSX )

Statistical source data for Supplementary Figs. 1–20.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 3 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Peng, C., He, Z., Zhang, F. et al. Organic intercalation strategy for efficient all-evaporated perovskite light-emitting diodes. Nat. Photon. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01887-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01887-2

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing