Flexible organic light-emitting-diode-based photonic skin for attachable phototherapeutics

Abstract

Phototherapeutics is both safely noninvasive and can be employed to treat a variety of sites and diseases. Current rigid and bulky conventional light sources, such as LED or laser-based phototherapy devices, are difficult to transport and use for regular irradiation treatments. To solve this problem, flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) light sources are the best candidates, and if applied very thinly as a skin-like platform, the ultimate attachable phototherapeutics can be realized. We demonstrated a very thin flexible OLED-based photonic skin with a total thickness of 6 mu m for application in attachable phototherapeutics. It was optimized by controlling the peak wavelengths (600-700 nm) and irradiation interval of the flexible OLED thus improving the regeneration effect of the artificial skin by up to 70%. In addition, when the flexible OLED-based photonic skin was attached to a dressing film before being applied to the skin, it delivered the same electro-optical properties, while protecting against external contamination. The OLED skin on the dressing film had an operating lifetime of more than 100 h. These results confirmed the applicability of flexible OLED-based photonic skin to various light treatment areas, such as surgical wounds that require periodic irradiation.