To inhibit coffee ring effect in inkjet printing of light-emitting polymer films by decreasing capillary force

Polymer thin film with uniform thickness and flat surface profile is the key point for polymer light emitting diodes (PLEDs) by inkjet printing. However, the coffee ring effect is usually observed due to the mismatch between the evaporation of the solvent and the decrease of solution volume, which promotes the formation of radial flow from the interior of the drop to the edge. In this paper, coffee ring effects of inkjet printed poly(spirobifluorene) films were proposed to be restrained by decreasing capillary force by adding co-solvent with high boiling point and high viscosity to the main solvent. The low evaporation rate of the co-solvent can reduce the driving force of the radial flow; meanwhile the high viscosity of the co-solvent can increase the resistance of the radial flow. Thus, polymer films with improve uniformity can be obtained due to the suppression of the radial flow. The device performance was greatly improved under the condition of proper film thickness and film uniformity and the maximum luminous efficiency of devices with inkjet printed poly(spirobifluorene) can reach 80% of the spin-coated devices.