Modeling of organic light-emitting diodes with graded concentration in the emissive multilayer

We model the electrical behavior of organic light-emitting diodes whose emissive multilayer is formed by blends of an electron transporting material, tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq(3)) and a hole transporting material, N,N-'-diphenyl-N,N-'-bis(1,1(')-biphenyl)-4,4-diamine. The multilayer is composed of layers of different concentration. The Alq(3) concentration gradually decreases from the cathode to the anode. We demonstrate that these graded devices have higher efficiency and operate at lower applied voltages than devices whose emissive layer is made of nominally homogeneous blends. Our results show an important advantage of graded devices, namely, the low values of the recombination rate distribution near the cathode and the anode, so that electrode quenching is expected to be significantly suppressed in these devices.

Highly efficient green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes based on Cu-I complexes

Mononuclear Cu-I complexes with mixed ligands are used to fabricate green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes. The electroluminescence (EL) maximum at 524 nm coincides well with its photoluminescent (PL) spectrum in poly(methyl methacrylate) film (see Figure). A maximum current efficiency of 10.5 cd A(-1) at 105 cd m(-2) and a maximum brightness up to 1663 cd m(-2) are

Highly efficient pure-white-light-emitting diodes from a single polymer: Polyfluorene with naphthalimide moieties

Light-emitting diodes exhibiting efficient pure-white-light electroluminescence have been successfully developed by using a single polymer: polyfluorene derivatives with 1,8-naphthalimide chromophores chemically doped onto the polyfluorene backbones. By adjusting the emission wavelength of the 1,8-naphthalimide components and optimizing the relative content of 1,8-naphthalimide derivatives in the resulting polymers, white-light electroluminescence from a single polymer, as opposed to a polymer blend, has been obtained in a device with a configuration of indium tin oxide/poly(3,4-ethyleiledioxythiophene)(50 nm)/polymer(80 nm)/Ca(10 nm)/Al(100 nm). The device exhibits Commission Internationale de I'Eclairage coordinates of (0.32,0.36), a maximum brightness of 11900 cd m(-2), a current efficiency of 3.8 cd A(-1), a power efficiency of 2.0 lm W-1. an external quantum efficiency of 1.50 %, and quite stable color coordinates at different driving voltages, even at high luminances of over 5000 cd m(-2).

White polymeric light-emitting diodes with high color rendering index

The efficient white polymeric light-emitting diodes based on a white emissive polymer doped with a red phosphorescent dopant were fabricated by spin-coating method. The emission spectrum of the device is broadened to cover the full visible region by doping the red phosphorescent dye and thereby realizes white emission with high color-rendering index (CRI). By controlling the contents of the doped electron-transporting 2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole and the red phosphorescent dopant, a luminous efficiency as high as 5.3 cd/A and a power efficiency of 3 lm/W were obtained with a CRI of 92.

Highly efficient iridium(III) complexes with diphenylquinoline ligands for organic light-emitting diodes: Synthesis and effect of fluorinated substitutes on electrochemistry, photophysics and electroluminescence

A series of novel cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes bearing 2,4-diphenylquinoline ligands with fluorinated substituent were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, NMR and mass spectroscopy. The cyclic voltammetry, absorption, emission and electroluminescent properties of these complexes were systematically investigated. Electrochemical studies showed that the oxidation of the fluorinated complexes occurred at more positive potentials (in the range 0.57-0.69 V) than the unfluorinated complex 1 (0.42 V). In view of the energy level, the lowering of the LUMO by fluorination is significantly less than that of the HOMO. The weak and low energies absorption bands in the range of 300-600 nm are well resolved, likely associated with MLCT and (3)pi-pi* transitions. These complexes show strong orange red emission both in the solution and solid state. The emission maxima of the fluorinated complexes showed blue shift by 9, 24 and 15 nm for 2, 3 and 4, respectively, with respect to the unfluorinated analogous 1. Multilayered organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) were fabricated by using the complexes as dopant materials. Significantly higher performance and lower turn-on voltage were achieved using the fluorinated complexes as the emitter than that using the unfluorinated counterpart 1 under the same doping level.

High-efficiency spin-coated organic light-emitting diodes based on a europium complex

An organic light-emitting diode fabricated by doping a europium, complex tris(dibiphenoylmethane)-mono (phenanthroline)-europium (Eu(DBPM)(3) (Phen)) into polymer poly(2-methoxy-5-(2-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene) and poly(N-carbazole) was realized by spin coating. Comparison with other europium complexes, due to the existence of a larger spectral overlap between Eu(DBPM)(3)(Phen) and poly(2-methoxy-5-(2-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4phenylene), a high efficiency red emission was achieved. The device showed a turn-on voltage of 5.2 V The maximum efficiency reached 0.47 cd/A at luminance of 50 cd/m(2). The maximum luminance can reach 150 cd/m(2) at 95 mA/cm(2). To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the best results based on europium complexes by spin-casting method.

Microcavity effects on emissive color and electroluminescent performance in organic light-emitting diodes

Microcavity organic light-emitting diodes having a top metal mirror and a bottom dielectric mirror, which was distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) fabricated by using TiO2-SiO2 alternative dielectric multilayer with a central stop-band and two sub-stop-bands, were fabricated. In the devices, the active layers consisted of a hole-transporting layer N,N'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N'-diphenylbenzidine (NPB) and an electron- transporting/emitting layer tris(8-hydroxy-quinoline) aluminum (Alq(3)). The relationship of the electroluminescent (EL) spectrum and efficiency with the thickness of the active layer and metal layer was studied. It was found that the EL emissive color did not strongly depend on the thickness of the organic layer and metal layer, which was attributed to the excellent photon confinement role of the narrow stop-band of the used dielectric mirror. Thus, high efficiency microcavity organic light-emitting diodes were achieved, and the peak wavelength and color purity were not obviously changed, via optimizing the thickness of organic layer and metal electrode.

High efficiency red organic light-emitting diodes based on microcavity structure

We demonstrate high efficiency red organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on a planar microcavity comprised of a dielectric mirror and a metal Mirror. The microcavity devices emitted red light at a peak wavelength of 610 nm with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 25 nm in the forward direction, and an enhancement of about 1.3 factor in electroluminescent (EL) efficiency has been experimentally achieved with respect to the conventional noncavity devices. For microcavity devices with the structure of distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR)/indium-tin-oxide(ITO)/V2O5/N,N'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N'-diphenyl-benzidine(NPB)/4-(dicy-anome-thylene)-2-t-butyl-6(1,1,7,7-tetrame-thyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran(DCJTB):tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium (Alq(3))/Alq(3)/LiF/Al, the maximum brightness arrived at 37000 cd/m(2) at a current density of 460.0 mA/cm(2), and the current efficiency and power efficiency reach 13.7 cd/A at a current density of 0.23 mA/cm(2) and 13.3 lm/W respectively.

Improved performance and stability by an Al/Ni bilayer cathode in organic light-emitting diodes

Al/Ni bilayer cathode was used to improve the electroluminescent (EL) efficiency and stability in N,N'-bis(1-naphthyl)-N,N'-diphenyl-1,1' biphenyl 4,4'-dimaine (NPB)/tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq(3))-based organic light-emitting diodes. The device with LiF/Al/Ni cathode achieved a maximum power efficiency of 2.8 lm/W at current density of 1.2 mA/cm(2), which is 1.4 times the efficiency of device with the state-of-the-art LiF/Al cathode. Importantly, the device stability was significantly enhanced due to the utilization of LiF/Al/Ni cathode. The lifetime at 30% decay in luminance for LiF/Al/Ni cathode was extrapolated to 400 It at an initial luminance of 100 cd/m(2), which is 10 times better than the LiF/Al cathode.

Reduced ambient reflection of organic light-emitting diodes by utilizing multilayer low-reflection cathodes

Ambient reflection of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is reduced by utilizing a multilayer low-reflection cathode. The low-reflection cathode structure consists of a semitransparent cathode layer, a transparent spacing layer and a high reflective layer. Metals with different optical properties, including silver (Ag) and samarium (Sm), are used as the semitransparent cathode layer, tris(8-quinolinolato) aluminium (Alq(3)) and aluminium (Al) are used as the spacing layer and high reflective layer, respectively. The incident ambient light could be reduced by the cathode structure via destructive optical interference. It is found that the Ag/Alq(3)/Al cathode shows a strong wavelength-dependent reflection. However, the Sm/Alq(3)/Al cathode demonstrates a low reflection in the whole visible range, and the resulting OLED shows a reduced luminous reflectance of 2.7% as compared to 81% for a control device with LiF/Al cathode. A further reduction to 0.9% is realized by replacing a multilayer of Alq(3)/Sm/Alq(3) for the single layer of Alq(3).

High efficiency white organic light-emitting diodes based on double recombination zones

A multilayer white organic light-emitting diode (OLED) with high efficiency was present. The luminescent layer was composed of a red dye 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyle-6-(1,1,7,7-tetra-methyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) doped into NN-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N-diphenyl-1,1-biphenyl-4-4-diamine (NPB) layer and a blue-emitting 9,10-bis-(beta-naphthyl)-anthrene (DNA) layer. Red and blue emission, respectively, from DCJTB:NPB and DNA can be obtained by effectively controlling the thicknesses of DCJTB:NPB and DNA layers, thus a stable white light emission was achieved. The device turned on at 3.5 V, and the maximum luminance reached 16000 cd/m(2) at 21 V. The maximum current efficiency and power efficiency were 13.6 cd/A and 5.5 lm/W, respectively.

New fluorescent dipolar pyrazine derivatives for non-doped red organic light-emitting diodes

Dipolar fluorescent compounds containing electron-accepting pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile and electron-donating arylamine moiety have been designed and synthesized. The optical and electrochemical properties of these compounds can be adjusted by changing pi-bridge length and the donor (D) strength. Organic light-emitting devices based on these compounds are fabricated. Saturated red emission of (0.67, 0.33) and the external quantum efficiency as high as 1.41% have been demonstrated for one of these compounds.

A wide-bandgap semiconducting polymer for ultraviolet and blue light emitting diodes

A novel wide-bandgap conjugated polymer (PDHFSCHD) consisting of alternating dihexylfluorene and rigidly twisted biphenyl units has been synthesized. The new fluorene-based copolymer composed of rigid twisting segments in the main-chain exhibits an optical bandgap of as high as 3.26 eV, and a highly efficient ultraviolet emission with peaks at 368 nm and 386 nm. An electroluminescence device from PDHFSCHD neat film as an active layer shows UV emission which peaks at 395 nm with a turn on voltage below 8 V By optimizing the device conditions, a peak EL quantum efficiency of 0.054% and brightness of 10 cd.m(-2) was obtained. Furthermore, blending a poly(dihexylfluorene) in the PDHFSCHD host gave pure blue emission peaking at 417 nm, and 440 nm without long wavelength emission from aggregated species. Efficient energy transfer from PDHFSCHD to PDHF was demonstrated in these blended systems. Depressed chain-aggregation of PDHF in the PDHFSCHD host can correspond to pure blue emission behaviors.

A dinuclear aluminum 8-hydroxyquinoline complex with high electron mobility for organic light-emitting diodes

A dinuclear aluminum 8-hydroxyquinoline complex (DAlq(3)) with improved electron mobility was designed for organic light-emitting diodes. The electron mobility in DAlq(3) was determined via transient electroluminescence (EL) from bilayer devices with structure of indium tin oxide (ITO)/N,N-'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N-'-diphenyl-benzidine (NPB)/DAlq(3)/Mg:Ag. It was found that the electron mobility in DAlq(3) is between 3.7-8.4x10(-6) cm(2)/Vs at electric fields ranging between 1.2x10(6) and 4.0x10(6) V/cm, which is a factor of two higher than that in Alq(3). The DAlq(3) also shows a higher EL efficiency of 2.2 cd/A (1.2 Lm/W), as compared to Alq(3) with an EL efficiency of 2.0 cd/A (1.0 Lm/W), which is attributed to more balanced electron and hole recombination due to the improved electron mobility of DAlq(3).

Polymer light-emitting diodes based on a bipolar transporting luminescent polymer

A soluble electroluminescent polymer containing hole-deficient triphenylamine and electron-deficient oxadiazole units in the main chains has been designed and studied. The design is based on the consideration that the triphenylamine group possesses good hole-transporting property and the oxadiazole unit is known to be of electron-transporting character. Because of the good bipolar transporting performance, the brightness and electroluminescent efficiency are significantly improved and the turn-on voltage is reduced compared with a similar polymer without the electron-deficient oxadiazole units in the main chains. For a device with configuration ITO/PEDOT/polymer/CsF/Al, a maximum brightness of 3600 cd m(-2) and a maximum luminescent efficiency of 0.65 cd A(-1) (quantum efficiency of 0.3%) were obtained in the polymer with oxadiazole units, about 15 times brighter and 15 times more efficient than the corresponding polymer without oxadiazole units.