Using an embedded nanocomposite layer to increase color-conversion efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes

Down-conversion white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) have a significant advantage in generating stabilized white-light emissions, but still have room for further improvement in terms of color-conversion efficiency. We demonstrated that TiO₂ nanoparticles mixed with fluorescent dyes could be used to increase the absorption of dyes and thus boost the efficiency of color-conversion. WOLEDs with a nanocomposite color-conversion layer achieved high efficiencies of 12.3% (22.9 cd/A and 22.5 lm/W) and stable white-light emission. In addition, the EL spectra with different viewing angles are close to the ideal Lambertain curve. These outcomes indicate that the nanocomposite-based color-conversion possesses great potential for use in display and lighting applications.     

Enhancement of the power conversion efficiency for organic photovoltaic devices due to an embedded rugged nanostructural layer

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells utilizing a rugged nanostructural layer were fabricated by using a mixed solution method. The charge separation at the heterointerface between the poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanostructural layer with a rugged surface and the C60 layer was increased due to an increase in the interfacial region between the donor and the acceptor layers, resulting in an increase in the short-circuit current density and the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the OPV cells with a P3HT nanostructural layer. The PCE of the OPV cells with a nanostructural rugged layer is 30% higher than that without a rugged layer.     

Improved current efficiency in organic light-emitting devices with a hole blocking layer

A hole-blocking layer (HBL) of 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BPhen) is incorporated between the emitting layer (EML) and the electron transport layer (ETL) for a tris-(8-hydroxyqunoline)aluminum based organic light-emitting device (OLED). Such a structure helps to reduce the hole-leakage to the cathode, resulting in an improved current effi-ciency. The BPhen improves the balance of hole and electron injections. The current efficiency is improved compared with that of the device without the blocking layer. The highest luminous efficiency of the device with 6 nm BPhen acting as a blocking layer is 3.44 cd/A at 8 V, which is improved by nearly 1.5 times as compared with that of the de-vice without it.     

Coupling efficiency enhancement in organic light-emitting devices using microlens array-theory and experiment

Microlens arrays are introduced on glass substrates to improve the out-coupling efficiency of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). The microlenses suppress waveguiding loss in the substrate. A theoretical model, based on electromagnetic wave propagation and geometric ray tracing, is developed to simulate the enhancement effects and optimize the structure parameters of the lens pattern. A simple soft-lithography approach is employed to fabricate the microlens array on glass substrates. With the use of an optimized lens pattern, an increase of over 85% in the coupling efficiency of the OLED is expected theoretically. An increase of 70% in the coupling efficiency is achieved experimentally, without detrimental effect to the electrical performance of the OLED.     

Improved efficiency of indium-tin-oxide-free flexible organic light-emitting devices

An indium-tin-oxide (ITO)-free flexible organic light-emitting device (OLED) with improved efficiency has been demonstrated by employing a template stripping process to create an ultrasmooth PEDOT: PSS anode on a photopolymer substrate. The device performance has been improved owing to lowered surface roughness of the PEDOT: PSS anode. A 38% enhancement in efficiency has been obtained. The ITO-free OLEDs on the polymer substrate have shown flexibility, and the device is free of cracks and dark spots under small bending radius. Moreover, the elimination of the H₂SO₄ residues on the surface of the H₂SO₄-treated PEDOT: PSS by the template stripping has demonstrated its beneficial effect on the device stability.     

Enhance external quantum efficiency of organic light-emitting devices using thin transparent electrodes

High-index transparent electrodes have been one major origin of light trapping and lower light extraction in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this work, influences of the bottom transparent electrode thickness on emission properties of OLEDs are systematically studied by both simulation and experiments. Simulation shows that with substantially decreasing the thickness of the high-index indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode, waveguided modes, that otherwise would be significantly induced in regular/thicker ITO devices, can be effectively eliminated. Consequently, the overall coupling efficiencies of OLED emission into substrates can be much enhanced. Through further effective light extraction from the substrate, green phosphorescent OLEDs with a high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of up to ≈57.5% were experimentally demonstrated by adopting the very thin (20 nm) ITO electrode and preferentially horizontal dipole emitters (with a horizontal dipole ratio of 76%). The simulation further predicts that very high optical coupling efficiencies into substrates and EQEs approaching 80% are possible with further adopting purely horizontal dipole emitters and/or low-index electron transport layer (ETL) to suppress surface plasmon modes. Overall, this study clearly reveals the potential of using thin transparent electrodes for highly efficient OLEDs.     

具有阶梯势垒的低压有机电致发光器件

在2-t-butyl-9,10-di-(2-naphthyl)anthracene(TBADN)/tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum(Alq3)界面及TBADN/4'7-diphyenyl-1,10-phenanthroline(Bphen)界面上插入Gaq薄膜作为阶梯势垒,使有机电致发光器件的电子注入得到改善.由于Gaq(2.9 eV)的LUMO(分子最低空余轨道能级)位于Alq3(3.1 eV)(或 Bphen(3.0 eV))的LUMO和TBADN的LUMO(2.8 eV)之间,形成了从Alq3(或Bphen)经Gaq到TBADN的势垒阶梯,提高了电子注入,进而提高了器件效率.实验表明:与没有阶梯势垒的器件相比,无论是单一电子器件还是完整器件,在相同电流密度下,具有阶梯势垒的器件的电压都有所下降.在电流密度为20 mA/cm2时,当电子传输层为Alq3时,单一电子器件的电压从7.9 V降到4.9 V,完整器件的电压从7 V降到5.8 V;当电子传输层为Bphen时,单一电子器件的电压从4.2 V降到3.1 V,完整器件的电压从6.2 V降到5.1 V.在电流密度为200 mA/cm2,Alq3为电子传输层时,亮度从1 992 cd/m2升到3 281 cd/m2,最高亮度达到3 420 cd/m2,Bphen为电子传输层时,亮度从1 745 cd/m2 升到2 876 cd/m2,最高亮度达到3 176 cd/m2.本文运用能级隧穿理论对上述现象进行了解释.     

BCP层对蓝光有机电致发光器件效率的影响

采用真空热沉积的方法,在常规的三层器件基础上,通过改变空穴阻挡层BCP的厚度,制备了具有结构为氧化铟锡(ITO)/N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(1-naphthyl)(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine(NPB)/2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenan throline(BCP)/Hydroxyquinoline aluminum(Alq3)/Mg:Ag的双异质结的有机电致发光器件.结果表明,当空穴阻挡层BCP的厚度从0.1 nm逐渐增加到4.0 nm时,器件的电致发光光谱实现了从绿色到蓝绿色再到蓝色发射的转变.同时,空穴阻挡层BCP起到了调节载流子复合区域和改变器件发光颜色的作用,并且通过详细的器件结构优化证明一定厚度的BCP层显著地提高了蓝光器件的效率,达到了7.3 lm/W.     

Metal-anode-dependent spectra and efficiency in blue top-emitting organic light-emitting devices

In this study, the blue top-emitting organic light-emitting devices (TEOLEDs) with different metal anodes are fabricated. The effect of different anode materials on the spectra and efficiency of blue TEOLEDs is studied. We demonstrate that Al is a more suitable anode material for blue TEOLEDs due to its larger phase shift on reflectance (PSR) than the other common metal materials, such as Ag and Au. The influence of light outcoupling layer (LOL) on the transmittance and PSR of cathode is also investigated to obtain the optimum condition for devices. Angle-independent electroluminescence (EL) spectra are obtained in blue TEOLEDs for each metal anode but the device with Al anode possesses higher efficiency and much thicker organic layers, which is beneficial to the lifetime of the device. These results offer a practicable platform for the realization of TEOLEDs based full-color displays and lightings.     

Effective hole-injection layer for non-doped inverted top-emitting organic light-emitting devices

Non-doped inverted top-emitting organic light-emitting diode with high efficiency is demonstrated through employing an effective hole-injection layer composed of MoO_x. One reason for high efficiency lies on the energy-level matching between MoO_x and hole-transport, and another is due to the Ohmic contact formed between MoO_x and Ag. Both of them lead to an improvement of the hole-injection capability from Ag top anode. Moreover, the symmetrical current of “hole-only” device with MoO_x shows better hole-injection capability, which is independent of the deposition sequence. The optimized device with MoO_x hole-injection layer exhibits maximum current efficiency of 3.7 cd/A at a raised luminance level of 14,900 cd/m² and a maximum luminance of 47,000 cd/m² under 18 V.     

Organic semiconductor heterojunction as charge generation layer in tandem organic light-emitting diodes for high power efficiency

High-performance tandem organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) employing a buffer-modified C₆₀/pentacene organic semiconductor heterojunction (OHJ) as a charge generation layer (CGL) are demonstrated. The unique cooperation of charge generation, transport, and extraction processes occurred in the OHJ-based CGL remarkably reduces the operational voltage. As a result, an approximately twofold enhancement in power efficiency (21.9 lm W^?1 VS 10.1 lm W^?1) can be achieved that has previously been suggested to be difficult for tandem OLEDs. When the pentacene is replaced by zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc), copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), or phthalocyanine (H₂Pc), a similar power efficiency improvement can be also achieved. The novel design concept of the buffer-modified OHJ-based CGL is superior to that of the conventional CGLs. The investigations on the operational mechanism are performed, from which it is found that the mobile charge carriers firstly are needed to be accumulated at both sides of the heterojunction interface and then transport along the two organic semiconductors in terms of their good carrier transport characteristics under an external electrical field, and finally inject into the corresponding electroluminescent (EL) units by the interfacial layers.     

Properties of non-doped organic light-emitting devices based on an ultrathin iridium complex phosphor layer

Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) were constructed with a structure of indium tin oxide (ITO)/N,N'-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N'-bis(phenyl)-benzidine (NPB) (50-xnm)/bis[2-(4-tertbutylphenyl)benzothiazolato-N,C2'] iridium (acetylacetonate) [(t-bt)2Ir(acac)] (nm)/NPB (30nm)/Mg:Ag (200nm).A thin blue emission material of NPB was used as a separating layer,and the (t-bt)2Ir(acac) yellow phosphorescent dye was acted as an ultrathin light-emitting layer.TPBI acted as both hole-blocking and electron-transporting layer.By changing the location (x) and the thickness (d) of the phosphor dye,the variation of device performance were investigated.The results showed that all the devices had a turn-on voltage of 2.8V.In the case of d=0.2nm and x=5nm,the OLED had a maximum luminance of 18367cd/m2 and a maximum power efficiency of 5.3lm/W.The high performance is attributed to both direct charge carrier trapping of iridium phosphor dye and the thin NPB separation layer,which effectively confines the recombination zone of charge carriers.     

Blue top-emitting organic light-emitting devices using a 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline outcoupling layer

We fabricate a blue top-emitting organic light-emitting device (TEOLED) based on 4,4′-bis(2,2′-diphenylvinyl)-1,1′-biphenyl. Different from the conventional TEOLEDs that use ITO as a thickness adjustment layer to make the cavity length matchable with the resonant wavelength of the blue light, we construct the blue emission TEOLED through suppressing multiple-beam interference and utilizing wide-angle interference to enhance the blue emission. With a 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline light outcoupling layer to reduce the reflectivity of the Sm/Ag cathode, the blue emission can be obtained and its chromaticity is comparative to that from a bottom-emitting OLED. In addition, the blue emission shows stable spectra when the viewing angle alters from 0° to 75°.     

Efficient double-emitting layer inverted organic light-emitting devices with different spacer layers

Double-emitting layer inverted organic light-emitting devices (IOLEDs) with different spacer layers were investigated, where 2,20,7,70-tetrakis(carbazol-9-yl)-9,9-spirobifluorene (CBP), 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BCP), 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Bphen) and 4,40,400-tris(N-carbazolyl)-triphenylamine (TCTA) were used as spacer layers, respectively, and GIr1 and R-4b were used as green and red guest phosphorescent materials, respectively. The results show that the device with BCP spacer layer has the best performance. The maximum current efficiency of the BCP spacer layer device reaches up to 24.15 cd.A-1 when the current density is 3.99 mA.cm-2, which is 1.23 times bigger than that of the CBP spacer layer device. The performance is better than that of corresponding conventional device observably. The color coordinate of the device with BCP spacer layer only changes from (0.625 1, 0.368 0) to (0.599 5, 0.392 8) when the driving voltage increases from 6 V to 10 V, so it shows good stability in color coordinate, which is due to the adoption of the co-doping evaporation method for cladding luminous layer and the effective restriction of spacer layer to carriers in emitting layer.     

Bright green organic light-emitting devices having a composite electron transport layer

A bright green organic light-emitting device employing a co-deposited Al-Alq₃ layer has been fabricated. The device structure is glass/indium tin oxide (ITO)/ N, N′-diphenyl-N, N′- (3-methylphenyl)-1, 1′-biphenyl-4, 4′-diamine (TPD)/tris(8-quinolinolato) aluminum (Alq₃)/ Al-Alq₃/Al. In this device, Al-Alq₃ is used as electron transport layer (ETL). The device shows an operation voltage of 6.1 V at 20 mA/cm². At optimal condition, the brightness of a device at 20 mA/cm² is 2195 cd/m² achieved a luminance efficiency of 5.64lm/W. The result proves that the composite Al-Alq₃ layer is suitable for the ETL of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs).     

通过引入电子阻挡层的高效率的有机磷光白光器件

以CBP作为母体材料,绿色磷光染料Ir(ppy)3作为敏化剂,以荧光染料rubrene作为受主,制备了结构为ITO/2T-NATA(25 nm)/ NPBX (25-d nm)/ CBP:5%Ir(ppy)3:0.5%Rubrene(8 nm)/NPBX(d nm)/DPVBi(30 nm)/TPBi(20 nm)/Alq(10 nm)/LiF(1 nm)/Al的白光器件.在器件中,敏化剂Ir(ppy)3、荧光染料rubrene的浓度分别为5.0 wt%和0.5 wt%,发光层的厚度选择8 nm,通过调整两层NPBX的厚度来改善器件的性能,得到了比较理想的白光发射.当d的厚度为10 nm 时,器件在7 V的电压下最大电流效率达到11.2 cd/A,在17 V的电压下其最大亮度达到28 170 cd/m2,色坐标为(0.37,0.42),处于白光区.     

Blue top-emitting organic light-emitting devices using Alq3 as phase shift adjustment layer

Blue top-emitting organic light-emitting devices (TEOLEDs) are demonstrated by employing Alq3 as phase shift adjustment layer (PSAL) to increase the phase shift on reflection of the top electrode within a range, which also improves the light out-coupling. By adjusting the thickness of PSAL, the CIEx,y of devices, which utilize 2, 7-Di-pyrenyl-9, 9-spiro-bifluorene (DPSF) as emitting layer, changes from (0.16, 0.50) to (0.18, 0.37). The maximum current efficiency of 7.1 cd/A is acquired under 4.5 V with an increasing luminance of 139 cd/m2. Compared with adjusting the total thickness of organic layer, it is more beneficial for achieving blue TEOLEDs with high efficiency.     

High efficiency p-i-n organic light-emitting diodes with a novel n-doping layer

This study demonstrated p-i-n organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) incorporating a novel n-doping transport layer which is comprised of cesium iodide (CsI) doped into tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃) as n-doping electron transport layer (n-ETL) and a p-doping hole transport layer (p-HTL) which includes molybdenum oxide (MoO₃) doped into 4,4′,4″-tris[2-naphthyl(phenyl)amino] triphenylamine (2-TNATA). The device with a 15 wt.% CsI-doped Alq₃ layer shows a turn on voltage of 2.4 V and achieves a maximum power efficiency of to 4.67 lm/W as well, which is significantly improved compared to these (3.6 V and 3.21 lm/W, respectively) obtained from the device with un-doped Alq₃. This improvement is attributed to an increase in the number of electron carriers in the transportation layer leading to an efficient charge balance in the emission zone. A possible mechanism behind the improvement is discussed based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).     

Soluble processed low-voltage and high efficiency blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices using small molecule host systems

We report low voltage driving and highly efficient blue phosphorescence organic light emitting diodes (PHOLEDs) fabricated by soluble process. A soluble small molecule mixed host system consisting of hole transporting 4,4’,4’’ tris(N-carbazolyl)triphenylamine (TCTA) and bipolar carrier transporting 2,6-bis(3-(carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)pyridine (26DCzPPy) exhibits high solubility with smooth surface properties. Moreover, this small molecule host shows the smoothest morphological property similar to a vacuum deposited amorphous film. A low driving voltage of 5.4 V at 1000 cd/m² and maximum external quantum efficiency 14.6% obtained in the solution processed blue PHOLEDs are useful for large area low cost manufacturing.     

Effect of BCP ultrathin layer on the performance of organic light-emitting devices

Based on conventional double layer device, triple layer organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with two heterostructures of indium-tin oxide (ITO)/N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(1-naphthyl)(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine(NPB)/2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl- 1,10-phenanthroline (BCP)/ 8-Hydroxyquinoline aluminum (Alq3)/Mg:Ag using vacuum deposition method have been fabricated. The influence of different film thickness of BCP layer on the performance of OLEDs has been investigated. The results showed that when the thickness of the BCP layer film gradually varied from 0.1 nm to 4.0 nm, the electrolumines- cence (EL) spectra of the OLEDs shifted from green to greenish-blue to blue, and the BCP layer acted as the recombination region of charge carriers related to EL spectrum, enhancing the brightness and power efficiency. The power efficiency of OLEDs reached as high as 7.3 lm/W.