The patterned color filter films with high concentration quantum dots (QD) were fabricated and proved to be applied as color converting film of white or blue OLEDs and replacement of color filter in LCD. QDs were dispersed in mass production color filter resin, and the quenching of QDs were effectively restrained.
Author KeywordsQuantum dots; Color filter; Color gamut
Objective and BackgroundWith the development of display technology, wider color gamut and greater color saturation become a hot investigative emphasis. The emission spectrum of backlight and the transmission spectrum of color filter are two important limited factors in display today. Quantum dots are currently applied to display as their narrow photoluminescence peak and tunable peek wavelength. There are two kinds of application of QDs: one is used as backlight brightness enhancement film, and the other as color filter used in white or blue OLEDs and LCD. Backlight brightness enhancement film with QDs have been coming to market which is famous for its ability to efficiently express 50% wider color gamut than the conventional LCD (~115% NTSC in QD films compared to ~87% NTSC in conventional LCD).[1] Compared to QD Backlight brightness enhancement film, QD color filter (QDCF) expect to reach wider color gamut theoretically since it is possible to reduce the mixed color and improve the color purity. However, there are many problems in previous studies about QDCF. [2][3][4][5] First of all, it is difficult for QDs to keep high efficiency in QDCF film especially QDCF with high concentration of QDs because of its poor dispersion in resin. On the other hand, the luminance of QDCF film is also hard to improve. At last, there is only a little margin in the thickness of CF film in mass production. In our opinion, there are four key factors which affect the luminance of QDCF film: 1) the dispersion of QDs in CF resin; 2) the concentration of QDs in QDCF film; 3) the thickness of QDCF film; 4) quenching of QD during the photo process. So in this work we focus on enhancing the dispersion of QDCF film, increasing the concentration of QD and reducing the quenching of QD at a fixed thickness of QDCF film. We dispersed QDs into mass production CF resin, and the QDCF film could patterning with photo process. In addition to this, we also devoted to enhancing the luminance of QDCF resin.
Results
Dispersion of QDs in color filter resin (QDCF resin)In this experiment, we used the CdSe/ZnS core/shell QDs, including red QD and green QD, and we chose a mass production CF resin without pigment which used acrylic resin as main polymer, propylene glycol monomethyl acetate (PMA) as solvent. The QD content was characterized by QD solid concentration, which is given by equation as follows:
QD solid concentration=m(QD)/[m(QD)+m(solid of CF resin)]Using a conventional method, solid QD was added to CF resin and then dispersed QD with magnetic stirring and ultrasonication. The QDs were severely agglomerated when the QD solid concentration was greater than 3%. So we discovere...