Organic-inorganic hybrid composites as an electron injection layer in highly efficient inverted green-emitting polymer LEDs
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Accepted version
Supporting information
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Organic-inorganic hybrid light emitting diodes (HyLEDs) consist of an organic emission layer in combination with at least one metal oxide charge injection layer in an inverted structure. Low temperature, solution processing of metal oxide charge injection layers is one of the key factors in reducing the manufacture cost of HyLEDs. Herein, we report the use of composite materials, comprising conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPE) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), as the electron injection layer (EIL) in highly-efficient, green-light-emitting poly (9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT) polymer LEDs that are carefully optimised for use in an inverted HyLED architecture for the first time. The composite CPE:ZnO EILs are processed via a room temperature, one-step, solution deposition and enable superior device performance relative to ZnO NPs on their own. We find that specifically, they (i) improve EIL morphology, reducing surface roughness as well as pin-hole size and density, (ii) induce a favourable vacuum level shift for electron injection by coordinate bonding between the CPE and ZnO constituents, and (iii) reduce interfacial quenching by passivation of ZnO chemical defects caused by oxygen vacancies. This work is also the first demonstration that blending ZnO NPs and CPE supports much faster electroluminescence turn-on times (∼7.12 μs) than for traditional ZnO/CPE bilayer devices (∼0.4 s) via ‘locking’ of the CPE mobile ions, as well as higher device performance. This demonstrates good suitability for display applications. After optimisation of the EIL composition and the thickness of the F8BT emissive layer, we achieve promising device efficiencies of 16.5 cd/A and 5.41 lm/W for devices with a 1.1 μm thick F8BT layer, which is particularly relevant for potential roll-to-roll fabrication. These results clearly demonstrate the potential that this organic-inorganic composite EIL material has for the realisation of cheap, scalable and highly efficient, printable HyLED devices.
Date Issued
2020-02
Date Acceptance
2019-10-09
Citation
Organic Electronics, 2020, 77, pp.1-8
ISSN
1566-1199
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
1
End Page
8
Journal / Book Title
Organic Electronics
Volume
77
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Sponsor
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1566119919305233?via%3Dihub
Grant Number
EP/L016702/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Physical Sciences
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Physics, Applied
Materials Science
Physics
Hybrid light-emitting diodes
Conjugated polyelectrolytes
Zinc oxide
Nanoparticles
Electron injection layers
Inverted
CONJUGATED POLYELECTROLYTE
METAL-OXIDE
INTERFACIAL LAYER
CHARGE-INJECTION
HIGH-PERFORMANCE
SOLAR-CELLS
ZINC-OXIDE
DIODES
DEVICES
ELECTROLUMINESCENCE
Applied Physics
02 Physical Sciences
03 Chemical Sciences
09 Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
105496
Date Publish Online
2019-10-13