Tunable Near UV Microcavity OLED Arrays: Characterization and Analytical Applications

A new approach is demonstrated to fabricate narrow‐band emission near‐UV microcavity OLEDs (μcOLEDs) with peak emission at ≈385 nm, in near‐perfect alignment with the narrow primary 385 nm absorption band of Pt octaethylporphyrin dye, using 4,4′‐bis(9‐carbazolyl)‐1,1′‐biphenyl (CBP) as the emissive layer. Although OLEDs have been extensively operated at optical wavelengths, only few have achieved near‐UV emission. Yet there is a growing need for portable compact narrow‐band near UV sources for many biomedical and forensic applications. A microcavity effect, due to metallic electrodes enclosing an optical cavity, is employed to achieve the desired narrow peak emission. An Al/Pd bi‐layer anode enables attaining a turn on voltage of 3.8 V and a 4,4′‐cyclohexylidenebis [N,N‐bis (4‐methylphenyl) benzenamine] (TAPC) layer improves electron‐hole recombination in the emissive layer. The fabricated μcOLED is efficiently used as the excitation source in a structurally integrated all‐organic oxygen sensor. Moreover, a CBP‐based combinatorial array of μcOLED pixels is fabricated by varying the thickness of the organic layers to obtain nine sharp, discrete emission peaks from 370 to 430 nm, employed in an all‐organic on‐chip spectrophotometer. The photodetectors are based on P3HT:PCBM (poly(3‐hexylthiophene):[6,6]‐phenyl‐C₆₀‐butyric acid methyl ester) or the more sensitive PTB7:PCBM (PTB7 is polythieno [3,4‐b]‐thiophene‐co‐benzodithiophene). Simulations of the OLEDs' emission are used for analysis of the experimental data, assisting in device fabrication.