Transport and recombination in organic light-emitting diodes studied by electrically detected magnetic resonance

We have used electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) to study a series of multilayer organic devices based on aluminum (III) 8-hydroxyquinoline (Alq₃). These devices were designed to identify the microscopic origin of different spin-dependent processes, i.e. hopping and exciton formation. The EDMR signal in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on Alq₃ is only observed when the device is electroluminescent and is assigned to spin-dependent exciton formation. It can be decomposed in at least two Gaussians: one with peak-to-peak line ( ΔH_PP) of 1.6 mT and another with ΔH_PP of 2.0 to 3.4 mT, depending on bias and temperature. The g-factors of the two components are barely distinguishable and close to 2.003. The broad line is attributed to the resonance in Alq₃ anions, while the other line is attributed to cationic states. These attributions are supported by line shape and its electrical-field dependence of unipolar Alq₃-based diodes, where hopping process related to dication and dianion formation is observed. In these unipolar devices, it is shown that the signal coming from spin-dependent hopping occurs close to organic semiconductor/metal interfaces. The sign of the magnetic-resonance-induced conductivity change is dominated by charge injection rather than charge mobility. Our results indicate that the probability of singlet exciton formation in our OLEDs is smaller than 25%.     

双量子阱结构OLED效率和电流的磁效应

通过结构为ITO/NPB(60 nm)/ Alq₃ ∶1 wt% rubrene(20 nm)/ Alq₃(3 nm)/ Alq₃ ∶1 wt% rubrene(20 nm)/ Alq₃(20 nm)/LiF/Al的双量子阱的黄色有机电致发光器件,研究了不同磁场强度下的发光效率和电流变化特性. 研究结果表明该器件的电流是随着磁场强度的增加而单调下降的,显示了器件的电阻是随着磁场强度的增加而增加的. 同时也得到了该结构有 关键词： 量子阱 磁场 OLED 磁效应     

Red organic light-emitting devices with dotted-line doped emitting layers

High efficiency red organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) with several dotted-line doped layers (DLDLs) were fabricated by using an ultra-high vacuum organic molecular-beam deposition system. The red OLEDs consisted of indium-tin-oxide (ITO)/N, N′-diphenyl-N, N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-(1, 1′-biphenyl)-4, 4′-diamine (α-NPD): 40 nm/tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum (Alq₃)+4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetra-methyljuloldyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB); 3%wt.: x nm/(Alq₃+DCJTB; 3%wt./ Alq₃)_n−1: (30−x) nm/ Alq₃: 30 nm/Mg:Ag with n of 2, 4, 6, or 8, and x=30/(2n−1). The luminance yield of the device with 8 DLDLs was 75% higher than that of the device with a common doped layer. This was attributed to more formation of the excitons formed in a wider region resulting from the existence of the DLDLs. The dominant mechanisms of the dopant emission for the devices with DLDLs were described on the basis of the sequential carrier trapping process.     

电压调制变色有机电致发光器件中的能量传递

研究了不同掺杂浓度下PVK：Rubrene的光致发光及电致发光的特性。发现掺杂浓度较低的PVK：Rubrene的光致发光与电致发光有较大差别,这是Foerster能量传递及电致发光中陷阱中的电子对空穴的吸引作用使得PVK激子在光致发光和电致发光中的复合速率不同造成的。同时各掺杂浓度在5wt%以下的PVK：Rrbrene发光随电压的增加呈现变色,这是能量传递不完全时,未参与能量传递的PVK激子复合速率随电压升高增大的结果。     

同时掺杂磷光和荧光染料的白色有机电致发光器件性能研究

以磷光染料Ir(piq)₂(acac)作为发光掺杂剂,掺入空穴传输性主体材料NPB中得到红色发光层,荧光材料TBP掺入到主体CBP中作为蓝色发光层,制备了结构为ITO/NPB/NPB：Ir(piq)₂(acac)/CBP/CBP：TBPe/BCP/ALq/Mg：Ag的双发光层白色有机电致发光器件.其中ALq₃、未掺杂的NPB和CBP及BCP层分别作为电子传输层、空穴传输层和激子阻挡层.实验中通过调节发光层厚度及Ir(piq)_{2关键词： 磷光 激子阻挡层 有机电致发光}     

Enhanced power efficiency for white OLED with MoO3 as hole injection layer and optimized charge balance

White OLEDs with a different hole injection layer (MoO₃ or m-MTDATA), and a different electron transport layer (Alq₃ or Bphen) have been investigated. With 9,10-bis (2-naphthyl)-2-t-butylanthracene (TBADN) doped with 3% P-bis (P-N, N-diphenyl-aminostyryl) benzene (DSA-ph) and 0.05% 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7,-tetramethyl-julolidy-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) as white emitting layer, the MoO₃/ /Bphen based device shows the lowest driving voltage and highest power efficiency among the referenced devices. At the current density of 20 mA/cm², its driving voltage and power efficiency are 5.43 V and 4.54 lm/W respectively, which is independently reduced 40% and improved 57% compared with those of the m-MTDATA/ / Alq₃ based one, respectively. The energy level diagram of the devices and single-carrier devices are studied to explain the reasons for the improvement. The results strongly indicate that carrier injection ability and balance shows a key significance in OLED performance.     

Influence of small-molecule material on performance of polymer solar cells based on MEH-PPV:PCBM blend

In this work,the influence of a small-molecule material,tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq 3),on bulk het-erojunction (BHJ) polymer solar cells (PSCs) is investigated in devices based on the blend of poly(2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MEH-PPV) and [6,6]-phenyl-C 61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM).By dop-ing Alq 3 into MEH-PPV:PCBM solution,the number of MEH-PPV excitons can be effectively increased due to the energy transfer from Alq 3 to MEH-PPV,which probably induces the increase of photocurrent generated by excitons dissociation.However,the low carrier mobility of Alq 3 is detrimental to the efficient charge transport,thereby blocking the charge collection by the respective electrodes.The balance between photon absorption and charge transport in the active layer plays a key role in the performance of PSCs.For the case of 5 wt.% Alq 3 doping,the device performance is deteriorated rather than improved as compared with that of the undoped device.On the other hand,we adopt Alq 3 as a buffer layer instead of commonly used LiF.All the photovoltaic parameters are improved,yielding an 80% increase in power conversion efficiency (PCE) at the optimum thickness (1 nm) as compared with that of the device without any buffer layer.Even for the 5 wt.% Alq 3 doped device,the PCE has a slight enhancement compared with that of the standard device after modification with 1 nm (or 2 nm) thermally evaporated Alq 3.The performance deterioration of Alq 3-doped devices can be explained by the low solubility of Alq 3,which probably deteriorates the bicontinuous D-A network morphology;while the performance improvement of the devices with Alq 3 as a buffer layer is attributed to the increased light harvesting,as well as blocking the hole leakage from MEH-PPV to the aluminum (Al) electrode due to the lower highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of Alq 3 compared with that of MEH-PPV.     

Study on electroluminescence processes in dye-doped organic light-emitting diodes

Electroluminescence (EL) mechanism of dye-doped organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) was investigated by using three familiar fluorescent dyes, i.e., 5,12-Dihydro-5,12-dimethylquino [2,3-b]acridine-7,14-dione (DMQA), 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB), and 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene (Rubrene). EL spectra of the doped devices with structure of indium tin oxide (ITO)/N,N′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′- diamine (NPB) (40 nm)/tris-(8-hydroxyquinolate)-aluminum (Alq₃) (x nm, x=0–40 nm)/dye: Alq₃ (weight ratio≈1%, 2 nm)/Alq₃ (48−x nm)/MgAg indicated that direct carrier trapping (DCT) process dominated light emission of devices. As a result, investigation of carrier-recombination site via doping, which is conventionally applied in OLEDs, is questionable since the doping site and the dopant itself may significantly influence the carrier-recombination process in the doped devices.     

Significant improvement of OLED efficiency and stability by doping both HTL and ETL with different dopant in heterojunction of polymer/small-molecules

This paper reports that the polymer/organic heterojunction doped light-emitting diodes using a novel poly-TPD as hole transport material and doping both hole transport layer and emitter layer with the highly fluorescent rubrene and DCJTB has been successfully fabricated. The basic structure of the heterostructure is PTPD/Alq₃. When hole transport layer and electron transport layer are doped simultaneously with different dopant, the electroluminescence quantum efficiencies are about 3 times greater than that of the undoped device. Compared with undoped device and conventional TPD/Alq₃ diode, the stability of the doping device is significantly improved. The process of emission for doped device may include carrier trapping as well as F\"{o}rster energy transfer.     

Improvement in performance of organic light-emitting devices by inclusion of multi-wall carbon nanotubes

Poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) was modified by different concentrations of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), and the nanocomposites of PEDOT:PSS and MWNTs were firstly used as hole-injection layer in fabrication of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) by using a double-layer structure with hole-injection layer of doped PEDOT:PSS and emitting/electron transport layer of tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (Alq₃). PEDOT:PSS solution doped with MWNTs was spin-coated on clean polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate with indium tin oxide (ITO). It was found that the electroluminescence (EL) intensity of the OLEDs were greatly improved by using PEDOT:PSS doped with MWNTs as hole-injection layer which might have resulted from the hole-injection ability improvement of the nanocomposites. Higher luminescence intensity and lower turn-on voltage were obtained by these devices and the luminance intensity obtained from the device with the hole-injection layer of PEDOT:PSS doped by 0.4 wt.% MWNTs was almost threefolds of that without doping.     

Efficient and stable single-dopant white OLEDs based on 9,10-bis (2-naphthyl) anthracene

Efficient white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) are fabricated with a thin layer of 9,10-bis (2-naphthyl) anthracene (ADN) doped with Rubrene as the source of white emission. A device with the structure of ITO/NPB (70 nm)/ADN: 0.5% Rubrene (30 nm)/Alq₃ (50 nm)/MgAg shows a maximum current efficiency of 3.7 cd/A, with the CIE coordinates of x=0.33, y=0.43. The EL spectrum of the devices and the CIE coordinates remains almost the same when the voltage is increased from 10 to 15 V and the current efficiency remains quite stable with the current density increased from 20 to 250 mA/cm².     

Development of organic light‐emitting diodes for electro‐optical integrated devices

Organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) are discussed for electro‐optical integrated devices that are used for optical signal transmission. Organic optical devices including polymeric optical fibers are used for optical communication applications to realize polymeric electro‐optical integrated devices. The OLEDs were fabricated by vacuum process, i.e. the organic molecular beam deposition (OMBD) technique or a solution process on a polymeric or a glass substrate, for comparison. Optical signals faster than 100 MHz have been created by applying pulsed voltage directly to the OLED utilizing rubrene doped in 8‐hydoxyquinolinum aluminum (Alq₃), as an emissive layer. OLEDs fabricated by solution process utilizing rubrene doped in carrier‐transporting materials have also discussed. OLEDs utilizing polymeric materials by solution process are also fabricated and discussed. Moving‐picture signals are transmitted utilizing both vacuum‐ and solution‐processed OLEDs, respectively.     

The enhanced electron injection by fluorinated tris-(8-hydroxy-quinolinato) aluminum derivatives in high efficient Si-anode OLEDs

Fabrication of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and lasers on silicon substrates is a feasible route to integrate microelectronic chips with optical devices for telecommunications. However, the efficiency of Si-anode based OLEDs is restricted by the imbalance of hole-electron injection because a p-type Si anode owns better hole injection ability than ITO. We have used fluorinated tris-(8-hydroxy-quinolinato) aluminum (FAlq₃) derivatives to prepare Si-anode based OLEDs. We observed that, when tris-(5-fuloro-8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (5FAlq₃) is used as the electron-transporting material instead of Alq₃, the cathode electron injection is enhanced due to its lower lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) compared to the Alq₃. The device can keep the relative carrier balance even when a Si anode capable of stronger hole injection was used. Further optimization of the device structure by introducing 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BCP) as a hole blocking layer showed significant increase in the device power efficiency from 0.029 to 0.462 lm/W. This indicates that use of fluorinated Alq₃ derivatives is an effective way to improve the performance of Si-anode based OLEDs.     

Emission properties of dopants rubrene and coumarin 6 in Alq3 films

We have investigated the emission properties of dopants 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnapthacene (rubrene) and 3-(2′-benzothiazolyl)-7-diethylaminocoumarin (coumarin 6) as well as co-doping of these two dopants in tris (8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (Alq₃) films in double-layer organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). We varied the rubrene (Rb) doping concentration in Alq₃:Rb films up to 10 wt%. The maximum luminescence efficiency of ∼6.5 cd/A was observed for Rb doping concentration of ∼0.7 wt% in Alq₃:Rb film, which was nearly double efficiency compared to pure Alq₃ device. The co-doping of dopants of C-6 and Rb in the ratio of 1:1 and 1:2 in Alq₃ films reduced the bias voltage compared to pure Alq₃ and Alq₃:C-6 devices for the same current density. The maximum luminescence efficiency was improved to ∼7 cd/A in Alq₃:{C-6:Rb(1:2)} film OLED. The direct recombination of holes and electrons in the dopant molecules may be responsible for the improvement of the luminescence efficiency. We also observed the shifting of photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) peaks position from ∼515 to ∼562 nm by co-doping of Rb and C-6 in Alq₃.     

New double graded structure for enhanced performance in white organic light emitting diode

This study presents a new design that uses a combination of a graded hole transport layer (GH) structure and a gradually doped emissive layer (GE) structure as a double graded (DG) structure to improve the electrical and optical performance of white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs). The proposed structure is ITO/m-MTDATA (15 nm)/NPB (15 nm)/NPB: 25% BAlq (15 nm)/NPB: 50% BAlq (15 nm)/BAlq: 0.5% Rubrene (10 nm)/BAlq: 1% Rubrene (10 nm)/BAlq: 1.5% Rubrene (10 nm)/Alq₃ (20 nm)/LiF (0.5 nm)/Al (200 nm). (m-MTDATA: 4,4′,4″ -tris(3-methylphenylphenylamino)triphenylamine; NPB: N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl-phenyl)-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine; BAlq: aluminum (III) bis(2-methyl-8-quinolinato) 4-phenylphenolate; Rubrene: 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene; Alq₃: tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum). By using this structure, the best performance of the WOLED is obtained at a luminous efficiency at 11.8 cd/A and the turn-on voltage of 100 cd/m² at 4.6 V. The DG structure can eliminate the discrete interface, and degrade surplus holes, the electron-hole pairs are efficiently injected and balanced recombination in the emissive layer, thus the spectra are unchanged under various drive currents and quenching effects can be significantly suppressed. Those advantages can enhance efficiency and are immune to drive current density variations.     

1.53 μm electroluminescence from ErF3-doped organic light-emitting diodes

Near-infrared (NIR) organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) are demonstrated by employing erbium fluoride (ErF₃)-doped tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃) as the emitting layer. The device structure is ITO/N,N′-di-1-naphthyl-N,N′-diphenylbenzidine (NPB)/Alq₃: ErF₃/2,2′,2″-(1,3,5-phenylene)tris(1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazole) (TPBI)/Alq₃/Al. Room-temperature electroluminescence around 1530 nm is observed due to the ⁴I_13/2–⁴I_15/2 transition of Er³⁺. Full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the electroluminescent (EL) spectrum is ～50 nm. NIR EL intensity from the ErF₃-based device is ～4 times higher than that of Er(DBM)₃Phen-based device at the same current. Alq₃–ErF₃ composite films are investigated by the measurements of X-ray diffraction (XRD), absorption, photoluminescence (PL) and PL decay time. Electron-only devices are also fabricated. The results indicate that energy transfer mechanism and charge trapping mechanism coexist in the NIR EL process.     

一种多层白色磷光有机电致发光器件的制备及性能研究

制备了一种结构为ITO/NPB/NPB:Ir(piq)₂(acac)/CBP:TBPe/BAlq:rubrene/BAlq/Alq₃/Mg:Ag的白色磷光有机电致发光器件.其中空穴传输型主体NPB掺杂磷光染料Ir(piq)₂(acac)作为红色发光层,双载流子传输型主体4,4′-N,N′-dicarbazole-biphenyl (CBP)掺杂TBPe作为蓝色发光层,电子传输型主体材料BAlq掺杂rubrene作为绿色发光层.以上发光层夹于 关键词： 电致发光 磷光染料 异质结 白光     

Enhanced electron injection in organic light-emitting devices using Al/LiF electrodes

The temperature dependence of the current-voltage-luminescence characteristics in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with varying thickness of LiF layers are studied to understand the mechanism of the enhanced electron injection by inserting a thin insulating LiF layer at the tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃)–Al interfaces. At room temperature, the LiF/Al cathode enhances the electron injection and the quantum efficiency (QE) of the electroluminescence (EL), implying that the LiF thin layer lowers the electron-injection barrier. However, at low temperatures it is observed that the injection-limited current dominates and the barrier height for the electron injection in the device with LiF/Al appears to be similar with the Al only device. Thus, our results suggest that at low temperatures the insertion of LiF does not cause a significant band bending of Alq₃ or reduction of the Al work function.     

Color-tunable organic light-emitting devices using a thin N,N′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine layer at heterojunction interface

Novel types of multilayer color-tunable organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) with the structure of indium tin oxide (ITO)/N,N′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine (NPB)/aluminum (III)bis(2-methyl-8-quinolinato)4-phenylphenolato (BAlq)/tris-(8-hydroxyquinolate)-aluminum (Alq₃)/Mg:Ag were fabricated. By inserting a thin layer with different thickness of a second NPB layer at the heterojunction interface of BAlq/Alq₃, the emission zone of devices shifted greatly and optoelectronic characteristics underwent large variation. Although BAlq was reported as a very good hole-blocking and blue-light-emission material, results of measurements in this paper suggested that a certain thickness of NPB layer between BAlq and Alq₃ plays an important role to modify device characteristics, which can act as recombination-controlling layer in the multilayer devices. It also provides a simple way to fabricate color-tunable OLEDs by just changing the thickness of this “recombination-controlling” layer rather than doping by co-evaporation.     

Influence of the deposition temperature on the structure and performance of tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum based flexible organic light-emitting devices

Based on indium tin oxide (ITO)/N,N′diphenyl-N-N′-di(m-tdyl) benzidine (TPD)/Alq₃/Al structure, flexible OLEDs on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates were fabricated by physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. Tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum (Alq₃) films were deposited at 90, 120 and 150 °C to examine the influence of the deposition temperature on the structure and performance of OLEDs. Electroluminescence (EL) spectra and current-voltage-luminance (I-V-L) characteristics of the OLEDs were examined. It was found that the device fabricated at a high temperature had a higher external efficiency and longer lifetime. Atomic force microscope (AFM) was adopted to characterize the surface morphology of ITO/TPD/Alq₃. The higher uniform morphology of the Alq₃ formed at high temperature might contribute to the performance improvement of the OLEDs.