Highly reliable hybrid nano-stratified moisture barrier for encapsulating flexible OLEDs

•Introducing the nanolaminate barrier into the multi-barrier system successfully.•The 330 nm thin moisture barrier which has a low WVTR value of 1.91 × 10−5 g/m2day.•Demonstration of reliable thin-film encapsulation of flexible OLEDs is conducted.•Flexibility-performance of the current state-of-the-art flexible OLED devices.

Herein, a novel thin-film encapsulation for flexible organic light-emitting diodes (FOLEDs) is proposed, and its long-term reliability in tensile stress conditions was tested. The hybrid nano-stratified moisture barrier consists of 2.5 dyads of an Al2O3/ZnO nano-stratified structure and a S-H nanocomposite organic layer. The nano-stratified structure is prepared by low-temperature atomic layer deposition and the S-H nanocomposite by spin-coating at a thickness of 30 and 120 nm, respectively. An optical transmittance of 89.05% was measured with the 2.5-dyad hybrid nano-stratified moisture barrier with a total thickness of 330 nm. A low water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of 1.91 × 10−5 g/m2day was recorded based on an electrical Ca test at 30 °C and 90% R.H. without losing its properties after a bending test. With this highly reliable hybrid nano-stratified moisture barrier, FOLEDs were successfully encapsulated. After 30 days under conditions of 30 °C and 90% R.H. with tensile stress, the J-V-L performances of the FOLEDs were comparable to those of the initial state without dark spots. These results suggest that this hybrid nano-stratified moisture barrier is an excellent method for encapsulating FOLEDs.

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