White light-emitting LED using electrospun Alq3/P3BT composite microfibers

• The first report of the white LED using electrospun fibers of small molecule organic material and polymer composite.
• Nanoscale visualization of composite formation of light emitting electrospun fibers.
• Observation of efficient FRET phenomenon between Alq3 and P3BT resulted in balanced white emission.
• Demonstration of convenient way of converting blue LED into white LED using electrospinning process.

We prepared a white light-emitting LED by electrospinning small organic molecules (Alq3) and polymer (P3BT) composite microfibers directly onto a blue LED. The formation of the composite microfiber was optically characterized using the photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy at the single strand level. We found that the 23:1 weight ratio of Alq3 and P3BT produced optimized white emission when combined with the intrinsic blue emission from the LED due to the fluorescence resonance energy transfer from the Alq3 to the P3BT. The environmentally friendly Alq3/P3BT organic composite microfibers efficiently demonstrated the photo conversion of blue LED into pure white LED.