Enhanced quantum efficiency in polymer electroluminescence devices by inserting an ultrathin PMMA layer

We report an increase of electroluminescence (EL) efficiency by about two times for poly(2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV) based polymer light-emitting diodes (PLED) while employing an ultrathin layer of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) between a hole injection layer, polyethylenedioxythiophenne:polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and an emitting layer, MEH-PPV. The peak power efficiency of the control device (ITO/MEH-PPV/LiF/Al) was 0.42 lm/W with a current efficiency of 0.66 cd/A. The device with the optimized thickness of PMMA interface layer shows the highest power efficiency of 1.15 lm/W at a current efficiency exceeding 1.83 cd/A. The significant improvement in the device performance is attributed to the decrease of holes injection and the promotion of electrons injection, which cause the balance of the carriers within the emitting layer.     

Solution-processed white organic light-emitting devices based on small-molecule materials

We investigated solution-processed films of 4,4′-bis(2,2-diphenylvinyl)-1,1′-bibenyl (DPVBi) and its blends with N,N′-bis(3-methylphenyl)-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (TPD) by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM result shows that the solution-processed films are pin-free and their morphology is smooth enough to be used in OLEDs. We have developed a solution-processed white organic light-emitting device (WOLEDs) based on small-molecules, in which the light-emitting layer (EML) was formed by spin-coating the solution of small-molecules on top of the solution-processed hole-transporting layer. This WOLEDs, in which the EML consists of co-host (DPVBi and TPD), the blue dopant (4,4′-bis[2-(4-(N,N-diphenylamino)phenyl)vinyl]biphenyl) and the yellow dye (5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphtacene), has a current efficiency of 6.0 cd/A at a practical luminance of 1000 cd/m², a maximum luminance of 22500 cd/m², and its color coordinates are quite stable. Our research shows a possible approach to achieve efficient and low-cost small-molecule-based WOLEDs, which avoids the complexities of the co-evaporation process of multiple dopants and host materials in vacuum depositions.     

Optical and electroluminescent properties of 3,4,6-triphenyl-α-pyrone

The optical and electroluminescent properties of 3,4,6-triphenyl-α-pyrone (α-pyrone), a new blue fluoresce dye, are investigated using films prepared by wet and dry process and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) fabricated with an α-pyrone-emitting layer. The optical properties of α-pyrone are found to be affected by its crystallinity. In the fabrication of OLEDs, wet processing (spin coating) is shown to be more suitable for preparation of the α-pyrone layer than dry processing (thermal evaporation). The best device performance is obtained for a device prepared using poly (n-vinylcarbazole) as the dye host, and a bathocuproine/tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum bilayer as a hole-blocking and carrier-injection layer. The maximum luminance of this device is 3000 cd/m² at a current density of 0.2 A/cm², with a current efficiency of 1.8 cd/A at 0.02 A/cm².     

Enhanced luminance of MEH-PPV based PLEDs using single walled carbon nanotube composite as an electron transporting layer

An efficient electron transporting layer (ETL) based on single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) composites has been developed for poly [2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) based orange polymer light emitting diodes (PLEDs) and its effect on the performance of PLEDs has been examined. It is observed that with increase in SWCNT concentration, in ETL, the luminance and luminous efficiency of the PLEDs increase (about 5 times increase in luminance is observed at 5% w/w SWCNT concentration). The SWCNTs present in the MEH-PPV ETL boost the mobility of electrons injected from the cathode towards the emissive layer by establishing highly conducting percolation paths. This balances the concentration of holes and electrons in the emissive layer, which leads to enhanced emission from the PLEDs.     

Efficient small molecular and polymer organic devices using bis[2-(4-tert-butylphenyl)benzothiazolato-N,C′] iridium (III) (acetylacetonate) dye as emitter

Small molecular organic light-emitting diodes (MOLED) and polymer organic light-emitting diodes (POLED) were fabricated with yellow light emission phosphorescent dye bis[2-(4-tert-butylphenyl)benzothiazolato-N,C²′] iridium (III) (acetylacetonate) doped in different hosts. The electroluminescent (EL) spectra of both devices shown two peaks generated from iridium dye but the position of main peak changed and became broader for POLED. The maximum luminance of 10,500 cd/m² achieved at 12.5 V for MOLED is higher than maximum luminance of 9996 cd/m² at 20 V for POLED. The maximum power efficiency of small molecular device is 6.4 lm/W, which is higher than 2.3 lm/W of polymer device, but the efficiency of both devices will roll off at large current density.     

Eliminate the angular dependence of blue emission top-emitting organic light-emitting devices by integrating gratings

We demonstrate that the angular-dependence effect in blue emission top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (TOLEDs) can be resolved in a very simple and effective way via introducing gratings and filling process. In this method, the shift of the peak emission wavelength with the viewing angle is successfully suppressed in TOLEDs. A desired emission pattern of approximately Lambertian is obtained. Moreover, we can observe almost the same current density and luminance in TOLEDs with and without gratings. Their maximal luminance are 10,776 cd/m² and 11,290 cd/m², respectively.     

Efficient bright white organic light-emitting diode based on non-doped ultrathin 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene layer

High-performance undoped white organic light-emitting diode (OLED) has been fabricated using an ultrathin yellow-emitting layer of 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene (rubrene) inserted at two sides of interface between two N,N′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N′- biphenyl-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′- diamine (NPB) layers as a hole transporting and blue emissive layer, respectively. The results showed that a maximum luminance of the device reached to as high as 21,500 cd/m² at 15 V. The power efficiencies of 2.5 and 1.6 lm/W at a luminance of 1000 and 10000 cd/m², respectively, were obtained. The peaks of electroluminescent (EL) spectra locate at 429 and 560 nm corresponding to the Commissions Internationale De L’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.32, 0.33), which is independent of bias voltage. The performance enhancement of the device may result from direct charge carrier trapping in rubrene. Energy transfer mechanism was also found in the EL process.     

Improved performance and stability by an Al/Ni bilayer cathode in organic light-emitting diodes

Al/Ni bilayer cathode was used to improve the electroluminescent (EL) efficiency and stability in N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′ biphenyl 4,4′-dimaine (NPB)/tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃)-based organic light-emitting diodes. The device with LiF/Al/Ni cathode achieved a maximum power efficiency of 2.8 lm/W at current density of 1.2 mA/cm², which is 1.4 times the efficiency of device with the state-of-the-art LiF/Al cathode. Importantly, the device stability was significantly enhanced due to the utilization of LiF/Al/Ni cathode. The lifetime at 30% decay in luminance for LiF/Al/Ni cathode was extrapolated to 400 h at an initial luminance of 100 cd/m², which is 10 times better than the LiF/Al cathode.     

Non-doped phosphorescent white organic light-emitting devices with a quadruple-quantum-well structure

Non-doped white organic light-emitting devices (WOLEDs) with a quadruple-quantum-well structure were fabricated. An alternate layer of ultrathin blue and yellow iridium complexes was employed as the potential well layer, while potential barrier layers (PBLs) were chosen to be 2,2',2''-(1,3,5-benzenetriyl)-tris(1-phenyl-1-H-benzimidazole) (TPBi) or N,N'-dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene (mCP) combined TPBi. On adjusting the PBLs for device performance comparison, the results showed that the device with all-TPBi PBLs exhibited a yellow emission with the color coordinates of (0.50,0.47) at a luminance of 1000 cd/m², while stable white emission with the color coordinates of (0.36,0.44) was observed in the device using mCP combined TPBi as the PBLs. Meanwhile, for the WOLED, with a reduced efficiency roll-off, a maximum luminance, luminous efficiency, and external quantum efficiency of 12,610 cd/m², 10.2 cd/A, and 4.4%, respectively, were achieved. The performance improvement by the introduction of mCP PBL was ascribed to the well confined exciton and the reduced exciton quenching effect in the multiple emission regions.     

Efficient polymer white-light-emitting diodes with a single-emission layer of fluorescent polymer blend

Efficient polymer white-light-emitting diodes (WPLEDs) have been fabricated with a single layer of fluorescent polymer blend. The device structure consists of ITO/PEDOT/PVK/emissive layer/Ba/Al. The emissive layer is a blend of poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO), phenyl-substituted PPV derivative (P-PPV) and a copolymer of 9,9-dioctylfluorene and 4,7-di(4-hexylthien-2-yl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (PFO-DHTBT), which, respectively, emits blue, green and red light. The emission of pure and efficient white light was implemented by tuning the blend weight ratio of PFO: P-PPV: PFO-DHTBT to 96:4:0.4. The maximum current efficiency and luminance are, respectively, 7.6 cd/A at 6.7 V and 11930 cd/m² at 11.2 V. The CIE coordinates of white-light emission were stable with the drive voltages.     

High efficiency rubrene based inverted top-emission organic light emitting devices with a mixed single layer

Inverted top-emission organic light emitting devices (TEOLEDs) with a mixed single layer by mixing of electron transport materials (PyPySPyPy and Alq₃), hole transport material (α-NPD) and dope material (rubrene) were investigated. Maximum power efficiency of 3.5 lm/W and maximum luminance of 7000 cd/m² were obtained by optimizing the mixing ratio of PyPySPyPy:Alq₃:α-NPD:rubrene=25:50:25:1. Luminance and power efficiency of mixed single layer device were two times improved compared to bi-layer heterojunction device and tri-layer heterojunction device. Lifetime test also shows that the mixed single layer device exhibits longer operational lifetimes of 343 h, which is three times longer than the 109 h for tri-layer device, and two times longer than the 158 h for bi-layer device. In addition, the maximum luminance and power efficiency were obtained at 20,000 cd/m² and 7.5 lm/W, respectively, when a TPD layer of 45 nm was capped onto the top metal electrode.     

Effect of SiO2/Si3N4 dielectric distributed Bragg reflectors (DDBRs) for Alq3/NPB thin-film resonant cavity organic light emitting diodes

In this article, we report on the effect of SiO₂/Si₃N₄ dielectric distributed Bragg reflectors (DDBRs) for Alq₃/NPB thin-film resonant cavity organic light emitting diode (RCOLED) in increasing the light output intensity and reducing the linewidth of spontaneous emission spectrum. The optimum DDBR number is found as 3 pairs. The device performance will be bad by further increasing or decreasing the number of DDBR. As compared to the conventional Alq₃/NPB thin-film organic light emitting diode (OLED), the Alq₃/NPB thin-film RCOLED with 3-pair DDBRs has the superior electrical and optical characteristics including a forward voltage of 6 V, a current efficiency of 3.4 cd/A, a luminance of 2715 cd/m² under the injection current density of 1000 A/m², and a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 12 nm for emission spectrum over the 5-9 V bias range. These results represent that the Alq₃/NPB thin-film OLED with DDBRs shows a potential as the light source for plastic optical fiber (POF) communication system.     

Highly efficient greenish blue-emitting organic diodes based on pyrene derivatives

We report the synthesis of pyrene derivatives as the light emissive layer for highly efficient organic electroluminescence (EL) diodes. Multilayer devices were fabricated with pyrene derivatives (ITO/NPB (50 nm)/blue material (30 nm)/BCP (10 nm)/Alq₃ (30 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al). By using 1,1′-dipyrene (DP) and 1,4-dipyrenyl benzene (DPB), the devices produced the blue EL emissions with 1931 Commission International de L’Eclairage coordinates of (x=0.21, y=0.35) and (x=0.19, y=0.25), respectively. The device with DPB shows a maximum brightness of 42,445 cd/m² at 400 mA/cm² and the luminance efficiency of 8.57 cd/A and 5.18 lm/W at 20 mA/cm².     

Photoluminescence and electroluminescence of a novel green-yellow emitting material-5,6-Bis-[4-(naphthalene-1-yl-phenyl-amino)-phenyl]-pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile

A new compound with intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) property—5,6-Bis-[4-(naphthalene-1-yl-phenyl-amino)-phenyl]-pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile(BNPPDC) was synthesized. The new compound was strongly fluorescent in non-polar and moderately polar solvents, as well as in thin solid film. The absorption and emission maxima shifted to longer wavelength with increasing solvent polarity. The fluorescence quantum yield also increased with increasing solvent polarity from non-polar to moderately polar solvents, then decreased with further increase of solvent polarity. This indicates both “positive” and “negative” solvatokinetic effects co-existed. Using this material as hole-transporting emitter and host emitter, we fabricated two electroluminescent (EL) devices with structures of A (ITO/BNPPDC (45 nm)/1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimidazol-2-yl)benzene (TPBI) (45 nm)/Mg:Ag (200 nm) and B (ITO/N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis-(3-methylphenyl) (1,1′-diphenyl)4,4′-diamine (TPD) (50 nm)/BNPPDC (20 nm)/1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimidazol-2-yl)benzene (TPBI) (45 nm)/Mg:Ag (200 nm). The devices showed green-yellow EL emission with good efficiency and high brightness. For example, the device A exhibited a high brightness of 17400 cd/m² at a driving voltage of 11 V and a very low turn-on voltage (2.9 V), as well as a maximum luminous efficiency 3.61 cd/A. The device B showed a similar performance with a high brightness of 12650 cd/m² at a driving voltage of 13 V and a maximum luminous efficiency 3.62 cd/A. In addition, the EL devices using BNPPDC as a host and 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) as a dopant (configuration: ITO/TPD (60 nm)/BNPPDC:DCJTB (2%) (30 nm)/TPBI (35 nm)/Mg:Ag (200 nm)) showed a good performance with a brightness of 150 cd/m² at 4.5 V, a maximum brightness of 12600 cd/m² at 11.5 V, and a maximum luminous efficiency of 3.30 cd/A.     

A comparative study of electrode effects on the electrical and luminescent characteristics of Alq3/TPD OLED: Improvements due to conductive polymer (PEDOT) anode

The performance of organic light emitting device (OLED) structures, based on identically fabricated Alq₃/TPD active regions, with various anode and cathode electrode structures are compared, and performance differences related to the different anode structure. The best performance was achieved with a conductive polymer, 3,4-polyethylenedioxythiopene-polystyrenesultonate (PEDOT), used as an anode layer, yielding a brightness of 1720 cd/m² at 25 V, a turn-on voltage of 3 V, and electroluminescence (EL) efficiency and external quantum efficiency of 8.2 cd/A and 2%, respectively, at a brightness of 100 cd/m² and 5 V. Compared to a baseline device (TPD/Alq₃/Al), PEDOT anodes substantially reduce the turn-on voltage and made current injection almost linear after turn-on, whiles devices incorporating a LiF and CuPc layers significantly improved device efficiency while slightly improving turn-on voltage and maintaining superlinear I-V injection. This is attributed to the reduced barrier at the organic-organic interface in PEDOT, the ‘ladder’ effect of stepping the band offset over several interfaces, and the favorable PEDOT film morphology. The benefit of the PEDOT anode is clearly seen in the improvement in device brightness and the high external quantum efficiency obtained.     

High performance polymer light-emitting diodes doped with a novel phosphorescent iridium complex

High performance polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) based on a phosphor of noble metal complex bis(1,2-dipheny1-1H-benzoimidazole) iridium (acetylacetonate) [(pbi)₂Ir(acac)] doped in poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) host with various concentration were demonstrated. The photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the PLEDs exhibited an emission intensity decrease of PVK and a gradually enhanced feature of (pbi)₂Ir(acac) with increased doping concentration. The device with a 5 wt% (pbi)₂Ir(acac) doped PVK system showed a high power efficiency of 3.84 lm/W and a luminance of 26,006 cd/m². The results indicated that both energy transfer and charge trapping have a significant influence on the performance of PLEDs. The devices have a broadened EL spectrum of full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) more than 100 nm, which can be realized for WOLEDs.     

Electroluminescence of organic light-emitting diodes consisting of an undoped (pbi)2Ir(acac) phosphorescent layer

The electroluminescence (EL) characteristics of phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with an undoped bis(1,2-dipheny1-1H-benzoimidazole) iridium (acetylacetonate) [(pbi)₂Ir(acac)] emissive layer (EML) of various film thicknesses were studied. The results showed that the intensity of green light emission decreased rapidly with the increasing thickness of (pbi)₂Ir(acac), which was relevant to the triplet excimer emission. It suggested that the concentration quenching of monomer emission in the undoped (pbi)₂Ir(acac) film was mainly due to the formation of triplet excimer and partly due to the triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) and triplet-polaron annihilation (TPA). A green OLED with a maximum luminance of 26,531 cd/m², a current efficiency of 36.2 cd/A, and a power efficiency of 32.4 lm/W was obtained, when the triplet excimer emission was eliminated. Moreover, the white OLED with low efficiency roll-off was realized due to the broadened recombination zone and reduced quenching effects in the EML when no electron blocking layer was employed.     

Luminescence of ZnWO4 and CdWO4 thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

Thin films of ZnWO₄ and CdWO₄ were prepared by spray pyrolysis and the structural, optical, and luminescence properties were investigated. Both ZnWO₄ and CdWO₄ thin films showed a broad blue-green emission band. The broad band of ZnWO₄ films was centered at 495 nm (2.51 eV) consisted of three bands at 444 nm (2.80 eV), 495 nm (2.51 eV) and 540 nm (2.30 eV). The broad band of CdWO₄ films at 495 nm (2.51 eV) could be decomposed to three bands at 444 nm (2.80 eV), 495 nm (2.51 eV) and 545 nm (2.28 eV). These results are consistent with emission from the WO₆⁶⁻ molecular complex. The luminance and efficiency for ZnWO₄ film at 5 kV and 57 μA/cm² were 48 cd/m² and 0.22 lm/w, respectively, and for CdWO₄ film the values were 420 cd/m² and 1.9 lm/w.     

Effects of hole injection layer thickness on the luminescent properties of white organic light-emitting diodes

This work investigates how the thickness of the hole injection layer (HIL) influences the luminescent characteristics of white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLED). Experimental results indicate that inserting a thin HIL (<200 Å) into a WOLED without an HIL reduces the brightness and clearly changes the chromaticity because the surface of the 4,4′,4″-tris{N,-(3-methylphenyl)-N-phenylamino}-triphenylamine) (m-MTDATA) film is extremely rough. In contrast, a dense film structure and the fine surface morphology of m-MTDATA of moderate thickness (350-650 Å) provides a uniform conducting path on which holes cross the indium tin oxide (ITO)/HIL interface, improving luminescent performance, associated with the relatively stable purity of the color of the emission, with Commission Internationale 1′Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (x = 0.40, y = 0.40). However, inserting a thick HIL (>650 Å) reduces the luminescent performance and causes red-shift, because the holes and electrons in the effective emissive confinement region become less optimally balanced. Moreover, optimizing the device structure enables a bright WOLED with CIE coordinates of (x = 0.34, y = 0.33) to reach a luminance of 7685 cd/m² at a current density of 100 mA/cm², with a maximum luminous efficiency of 1.72 lm/W at 5.5 V.     

Synthesis, structure and electroluminescent properties of Schiff-base boron complex with anilido-imine ligand

The Schiff-base ligand boron complex, LBF₂ [L=ortho-C₆H₄(NC₆H₃Me₂-2,6)(CH=NC₆H₃Me₂-2,6)], is synthesized and characterized. The crystal structural study reveals that central boron atom is four coordinate and adopts a distorted tetrahedral geometry in LBF₂. The photo/electroluminescent properties of the boron complex have been studied. The electroluminescent devices were fabricated by doping LBF₂ in polymer blends host of poly(vinylcarbazole) (PVK) and 2-tert-butylphenyl-5-biphenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol (PBD) using simple solution spin-coating technique. The single-layer polymer organic light emitter devices exhibited blue-green emission with maximum current efficiency of 1.6 cd/A and maximum luminance of 840 cd/m².