image: HOW THE OLEDS USED IN WEARABLE ELECTRONICS.
Credit: Yin, D., et al.
Wearable electronics have evolved from basic fitness trackers to sophisticated health-monitoring systems, demanding light-emitting devices that balance visual quality, power efficiency, and mechanical flexibility. OLED technology has become indispensable in this field due to its self-emissive nature, enabling ultra-thin, bendable and stretchable screens that conform to curved surfaces like wrists or clothing while consuming minimal power—critical for battery-constrained devices.
In a review article published in the KeAi journal Wearable Electronics, a group of researchers from China summarize the applications of OLEDs in wearable electronics, including the working mechanisms, materials, device structures, flexible substrates and stretching strategies of OLEDs. The applications of fibre-shaped and planar OLEDs in various types of wearable electronic devices, including displays, electronic skin, photo-sensors and photo-medical devices, are also highlighted.
“Wearable electronics are changing people’s lives.” says first author Da Yin, a researcher in flexible and stretchable organic optoelectronics for next-generation displays and sensing at Jilin University. “For example, OLEDs serve as precise light sources in reflectance-based pulse oximeters. Annular OLED designs emit red/infrared light to measure blood oxygen saturation (SpO₂), while ring-shaped organic photodetectors (OPDs) capture reflected signals for accurate photoplethysmogram (PPG) monitoring. This enables compact, low-power wearable sensors (e.g., fingertip oximeters).”
In another case cited, flexible OLED patches deliver targeted light therapy for wound healing and dermatology. Their conformable design adheres to body contours, emitting specific wavelengths (e.g., red light for tissue repair) with minimal energy use, ideal for continuous treatment.
According to senior author Prof. Jing Feng, also from Jilin University, this is an important step in the field of OLEDs. “Future wearable electronics integrating OLED displays and artificial intelligence (AI) hold vast capabilities: real-time physiological monitoring (e.g., ECG, glucose levels), intuitive human-machine interfaces via adaptive touch/voice controls, and autonomous disease diagnosis enabling home-based treatment without constant clinician oversight.”
Nonetheless, the authors noted persisting challenges. “The low efficiency and stability of organic blue light and near-infrared light materials, possible sweat accumulation, skin redness, swelling and allergic reactions caused by the ultra-thin and flexible OLED that closely adheres to the skin surface, and the lack of standard treatment protocols for specific diseases,” adds Feng. “More research is needed to enhance the OLED performance, comfort of wearing, signal detection and accuracy of disease diagnosis of wearable devices.”
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Contact the author: Jing Feng, State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, China, jingfeng@jlu.edu.cn.
The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 200 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
Journal
Wearable Electronics
Method of Research
Literature review
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Applications of organic light-emitting diodes in wearable electronics
COI Statement
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.