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.