Inverting the handedness of circularly polarized luminescence from light-emitting polymers using film thickness
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The emission of circularly polarized light is central to many applications, including data storage, optical quantum computation, biosensing, environmental monitoring, and display technologies. An emerging method to induce (chiral) circularly polarized (CP) electroluminescence from the active layer of polymer light-emitting diodes (polymer OLEDs; PLEDs) involves blending achiral polymers with chiral small-molecule additives, where the handedness/sign of the CP light is controlled by the absolute stereochemistry of the small molecule. Through the in-depth study of such a system we report an interesting chiroptical property: the ability to tune the sign of CP light as a function of active layer thickness for a fixed enantiomer of the chiral additive. We demonstrate that it is possible to achieve both efficient (4.0 cd/A) and bright (8000 cd/m2) CP-PLEDs, with high dissymmetry of emission of both left-handed (LH) and right-handed (RH) light, depending on thickness (thin films, 110 nm: gEL = 0.51, thick films, 160 nm: gEL = -1.05, with the terms "thick" and "thin" representing the upper and lower limits of the thickness regime studied), for the same additive enantiomer. We propose that this arises due to an interplay between localized CP emission originating from molecular chirality and CP light amplification or inversion through a chiral medium. We link morphological, spectroscopic, and electronic characterization in thin films and devices with theoretical studies in an effort to determine the factors that underpin these observations. Through the control of active layer thickness and device architecture, this study provides insights into the mechanisms that result in CP luminescence and high performance from CP-PLEDs, as well as demonstrating new opportunities in CP photonic device design.
Date Issued
2019-07-23
Date Acceptance
2019-06-17
Citation
ACS Nano, 2019, 13 (7), pp.8099-8105
ISSN
1936-0851
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Start Page
8099
End Page
8105
Journal / Book Title
ACS Nano
Volume
13
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© 2019 American Chemical Society. This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Nano, after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b02940
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31241299
Grant Number
EP/P000525/1
Subjects
OLEDs
chiral
chiroptical
circular dichroism
circular polarization
light emission
thin films
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2019-06-17