Interview with Dr. Iram Siddiqui—Winner of the Nanomaterials Best Paper Award

We are delighted to invite the winner of the Nanomaterials 2023 Best Paper Award, Dr. Iram Siddiqui, to discuss the article, “Status and Challenges of Blue OLEDs: A Review”. The paper was published in Nanomaterials (ISSN: 2079-4991) and has received a significant amount of positive feedback from our readers.

Name: Dr. Iram Siddiqui
Affiliation: National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Research interest: power electronics; optoelectronics

Dr. Iram Siddiqui, PhD, is a materials scientist with expertise in semiconductor device fabrication, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and device characterization. She has a proven track record of designing, testing, and optimizing advanced semiconductor devices, having worked with Foxconn (Hon Young Semiconductor) as a Principal Engineer and currently as a Technical Deputy Manager. Dr. Siddiqui’s work focuses on cutting-edge semiconductor strategies, process improvement, and yield enhancement.
She also holds a PhD in materials science and Engineering from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, where her research centered on developing highly efficient blue OLEDs. With over 20 research publications in international journals, Dr. Siddiqui has a solid foundation in device physics, simulation, and characterization techniques.

The following is a short interview with Dr. Iram Siddiqui:

1. Congratulations on receiving the Best Paper Award! Could you briefly introduce the key focus and most significant findings of your award-winning study? What was the core insight or most surprising result that emerged from this work?
Thank you. Our study focuses on the current status and challenges of blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), which are critical for full-color displays and solid-state lighting.
The review consolidates progress in fluorescent, phosphorescent, and TADF-based blue OLEDs, emphasizing efficiency, lifetime trade-offs, and color purity issues.
The key insight was that deep-blue stability remains the true bottleneck, even though the most efficient emitters degrade faster due to the high-energy nature of blue excitons. Surprisingly, we found that molecular rigidity and proper exciton confinement can dramatically slow degradation, offering a practical route toward commercial deep-blue OLEDs.

2. What initially inspired you to pursue this specific research direction? Was there a particular moment or curiosity that sparked this project?
Our motivation stemmed from the long-standing challenge of achieving efficient and stable deep-blue OLEDs. While red and green OLEDs reached maturity, blue lagged, limiting overall device performance.
We were particularly intrigued by how exciton dynamics and molecular design interplay to control stability. This curiosity to connect materials chemistry with device physics and to identify a roadmap for researchers entering this field was the starting point of this comprehensive review.

3. Research often involves overcoming obstacles. What was the most significant challenge you encountered during this study, and how did you and your team address it?
The most significant challenge we faced was managing and validating data from more than 700 research papers published over the years. Each study reported results under different test conditions, material structures, and device configurations, making it difficult to establish consistent performance comparisons. Our team, including my lab mates who are also co-authors, invested an extensive amount of time collecting and cross-verifying compound structures, recreating them using software, and identifying the best-performing concentration ratios for each material and device configuration. We also carried out a meticulous multi-stage data verification process to eliminate possible human errors and ensure accuracy.
This rigorous and time-consuming approach ultimately allowed us to construct a reliable, normalized dataset, forming the foundation for our analysis and helping us draw conclusions with genuine scientific integrity.

4. Could you describe your role within the research team and how collaboration helped shape the project from an idea to an award-winning paper?
I served as the lead author, responsible for conceptualizing the review structure, collecting data, and critically analyzing mechanisms affecting blue OLED performance.
Our collaboration was highly interdisciplinary; team members contributed from organic synthesis, device engineering, and computational modeling backgrounds. This synergy ensured a holistic view that connected molecule-level phenomena to device-level outcomes. The team’s complementary expertise transformed the paper from a literature review into a strategic guide for future blue OLED development.

5. What do you see as the potential real-world applications or long-term impacts of your research? How might it influence your field or benefit society in the future?
Blue OLEDs play a pivotal role in next-generation displays and solid-state lighting, offering the potential for high brightness, compact pixel design, and superior color quality. Our review provides a comprehensive roadmap for developing high-efficiency and long-lifetime deep-blue emitters, which can significantly enhance device performance in both consumer electronics and lighting applications.
However, the study also highlights that improper or excessive use of intense blue light can have detrimental effects. High-energy blue emissions can disrupt ecosystems, pollute night skies, suppress melatonin secretion, discolor artworks, and even contribute to eye-related diseases and certain cancers. Recognizing these risks, our corresponding author, Distinguished Prof. Jwo-Huei Jou from National Tsing Hua University, has been actively advocating for public awareness through over 100 popular science talks and his book “Embracing Darkness”. He emphasizes five key recommendations for minimizing blue-light hazards and promoting healthy lighting habits:

1. Dim or turn off bright lights after dusk or at least two hours before sleep;
2. Adopt blue-free, candlelight-style indoor lighting for nighttime;
3. Avoid using digital screens before bedtime; instead, engage in audio-based relaxation;
4. Sleep in complete darkness to maintain natural circadian rhythms;
5. Seek medical advice on melatonin supplements for better sleep, especially for older adults.

Ultimately, our research encourages not only the development of efficient blue emitters but also the responsible design of human-centric and ecologically sustainable lighting systems. The future lies in balancing innovation with health and environmental consciousness—embracing efficiency by day and darkness by night.

6. Based on the outcomes of this study, what new questions or emerging research directions do you find most exciting? Do you plan to continue working in this area?
Yes, definitely. The most exciting directions include:

1. Multi-resonance and hybrid TADF–fluorescent systems, which show promise for balancing color purity, efficiency, and lifetime;
2. Understanding degradation mechanisms at the molecular level through in situ spectroscopy;
3. Exploring stable host–guest architectures that minimize exciton-polaron interactions.

I plan to continue working on reliability enhancement and interface engineering in blue OLEDs, bridging material design with manufacturable device processes.

7. What influenced your decision to submit your work to Nanomaterials? How was your experience with the submission and peer-review process?
We chose Nanomaterials because of its strong reputation in materials science and optoelectronic research, and its open-access format ensures broad visibility. The peer-review process was efficient, constructive, and fair. Reviewers provided insightful feedback that strengthened the clarity and analytical depth of our paper. The editorial team’s professionalism made the experience both smooth and rewarding.

8. What advice would you give to young researchers in nanotechnology or materials science who aspire to produce high-impact work?

• Understand fundamentals deeply; solid theory is the base for innovation;
• Collaborate across disciplines; great discoveries happen at intersections;
• Be data-critical, distinguish genuine trends from coincidental results;
• Focus on clarity in communication; impactful research is as much about how you present as what you discover;
• Most importantly, stay curious and patient; breakthroughs often emerge after many failed trials.

9. Finally, how does it feel to receive this award, and what does this recognition mean to you and your team?
It is truly an honor and motivation for our entire team. The recognition validates our collective effort to organize and clarify a complex, evolving field. This award encourages us to pursue deeper, more practical research on blue OLED stability and inspires confidence that our work is contributing meaningfully to the global materials science community.