Light-emitting devices (LEDs) are a crucial part of everyday life as they are commonly used in displays as well as in general lighting applications. LEDs are more energy efficient and have longer life spans than light bulbs and are hence considered to be more sustainable. Usually, LEDs consist of inorganic materials which, however, are oftentimes toxic, scarce, and their production is energy intensive. One possibility to overcome these aspects is to create LEDs from organic materials (OLEDs), which can already be found in displays. OLEDs can be fabricated from earth-abundant non-toxic materials using energy-efficient processes. However, state-of-the-art OLEDs suffer from a low efficiency blocking their widespread employment in lighting applications. In the SCOLED project, OLEDs will be combined with nanoparticle arrays to enhance the coupling between light and matter in the OLEDs to enhance the efficiency to a level competitive with inorganic LEDs. The concept of strong coupling (SC) will be exploited for efficiency enhancement, leading to SCOLEDs. Other objectives include colour, polarization, and directional control of the emitted light. We use analytic theory, numerical simulations, and nanofabrication to design SCOLEDs which will then be characterized optically and electronically. The goal of SCOLED is the proof-of-principle demonstration of an OLED with high external quantum efficiency with control over the properties of the emitted light. The prospect of the project is a technology that will dramatically reduce the environmental impact of LED technology and widen the range of OLED applications.
