Sr3Al2O5Cl2:Ce3+,Eu2+: A potential tunable yellow-to-white-emitting phosphor for ultraviolet light emitting diodes

The Sr3Al2O5Cl2:Ce3+,Eu2+ phosphors were prepared by solid state reaction. The obtained phosphors exhibit a strong absorption in the UV-visible region and have two intense emission bands at 444 and 609 nm. The energy transfer from the Ce3+ to Eu2+ ions was observed, and the critical distance has been estimated to be about 24.5 A by spectral overlap method. Furthermore, the developed phosphors can generate lights from yellow-to-white region under the excitation of UV radiation by appropriately tuning the activator content, indicating that they have potential applications as an UV-convertible phosphor for white light emitting diodes.

Efficient multilayer white polymer light-emitting diodes with aluminum cathodes

Efficient multilayer white polymer light-emitting diodes (WPLEDs) with aluminum cathodes are fabricated. The multilayer structure is composed of a water soluble hole-injection layer, a toluene-soluble emissive layer, and an alcohol-soluble emissive layer. The polarity difference of the solvents used for spin coating these polymers allows for realization of the multilayer polymer structure. The recombination zone confined at the interface of the two emissive polymers avoids exciton quenching by electrodes, and white emission is realized by harvesting photons emitted from the two emissive polymers. A maximum luminous efficiency of 16.9 cd/A and a power efficiency of 11.1 lm/W are achieved for this WPLED.

Efficient top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes with a V2O5 modified silver anode

We fabricated efficient top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with silver (Ag) as an anode and samarium (Sm) as a semi-transparent cathode. The hole-injection barrier at the Ag anode/hole transporter interface is reduced by inserting a buffer layer of vanadium oxide (V2O5) between them. The ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy analysis shows that the hole-injection barrier is reduced by 0.5 eV. Both the V2O5 thickness and the organic layer thickness are optimized. The optimized device achieves a maximum current efficiency of 5.46 cd A(-1) and a power efficiency of 3.90 lm W-1, respectively.

Enhancement of stability of polymer light-emitting diodes by post annealing

We investigate the effect of thermal annealing before and after cathode deposition on the stability of polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) based on green fluorescent polyfluorene derivative. The annealed PLEDs exhibit improved charge transport and red-shift emission compared to the as-fabricated device. The stability of the PLEDs is largely enhanced by post-annealing before and after Ca deposition, which is attributed to the enhanced charge transport and the intimate contact between the cathode and the emissive layer.

New carbazole-based copolymers as amorphous hole-transporting materials for multilayer light-emitting diodes

New carbazole-based copolymers, which contain various concentrations of 9-alkyl-3, 6-carbazole fragments in the main chain connected via alkylene spacers, have been synthesized by Ni(0)-catalyzed Yamamoto-type aryl-aryl coupling reactions. Full characterization of the copolymer structure by NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis is presented. These compounds represent amorphous materials of high thermal stability with glass transition temperatures of 151-162 degrees C and thermal decomposition starting at temperatures > 390 degrees C. UV-Vis absorption and photoluminescence emission of the copolymers confirmed that the effectively conjugated segment in the 3,6-linked carbazole-type copolymers is limited to dyads (dimeric units). However, copolymers with varying concentrations of the oligocarbazole chromophores demonstrate different charge injection and transport properties in multilayer light-emitting diodes with the copolymers as the hole transport and Alq(3) as the electroluminescent/electron transport layer. The device based on a copolymer composed of oligocarbazole blocks with an average length of around four carbazoles exhibited the best overall performance with a turn-on voltage of 3.5 V, a maximal photometric efficiency of 4.1 cd center dot A(-1) and maximum brightness of about 4 200 cd center dot m(-2).

Conversion process of the dominant electroluminescence mechanism in a molecularly doped organic light-emitting device with only electron trapping

In this work, the detailed conversion process of the dominant electroluminescence (EL) mechanism in a device with Eu(TTA)(3)phen (TTA=thenoyltrifluoroacetone, phen=1,10-phenanthroline) doped CBP (4,4(')-N,N-'-dicarbazole-biphenyl) film as the emitting layer was investigated by analyzing the evolution of carrier distribution on dye and host molecules with increasing voltage. Firstly, it was confirmed that only electrons can be trapped in Eu(TTA)(3)phen doped CBP. As a result, holes and electrons would be situated on CBP and Eu(TTA)(3)phen molecules, respectively, and thus creates an unbalanced carrier distribution on both dye and host molecules. With the help of EL and photoluminescence spectra, the distribution of holes and electrons on both Eu(TTA)(3)phen and CBP molecules was demonstrated to change gradually with increasing voltage. Therefore, the dominant EL mechanism in this device changes gradually from carrier trapping at relatively low voltage to Forster energy transfer at relatively high voltage.

Change of the dominant luminescent mechanism with increasing current density in molecularly doped organic light-emitting devices

We have fabricated and measured a series of electroluminescent devices with the structure of ITO/TPD/Eu(TTA)(3)phen (x):CBP/BCP/ ALQ/LiF/Al, where x is the weight percentage of Eu(TTA)3phen (from 0% to 6%). At very low current density, carrier trapping is the dominant luminescent mechanism and the 4% doped device shows the highest electroluminescence (EL) efficiency among all these devices. With increasing current density, Forster energy transfer participates in EL process. At the current density of 10.0 and 80.0mA/ cm(2), 2% and 3% doped devices show the highest EL efficiency, respectively. From analysis of the EL spectra and the EL efficiency-current density characteristics, we found that the EL efficiency is manipulated by Forster energy transfer efficiency at high current density. So we suggest that the dominant luminescent mechanism changes gradually from carrier trapping to Forster energy transfer with increasing current density. Moreover, the conversion of dominant EL mechanism was suspected to be partly responsible for the EL efficiency roll-off because of the lower EL quantum efficiency of Forster energy transfer compared with carrier trapping.

Improved performances of organic light-emitting diodes with metal oxide as anode buffer

We demonstrate extremely stable and highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on molybdenum oxide (MoO3) as a buffer layer on indium tin oxide (ITO). The significant features of MoO3 as a buffer layer are that the OLEDs show low operational voltage, high electroluminescence (EL) efficiency and good stability in a wide range of MoO3 thickness. A green OLED with structure of ITO/MoO3/N,N-'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N-'-diphenyl-benzidene (NPB)/NPB: tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq(3)):10-(2-benzothiazolyl)-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1,1,7,7-tetramethyl-1H, 5H, 11H-(1)-benzopyropyrano(6,7-8-i,j)quinolizin-11-one (C545T)/Alq(3)/LiF/Al shows a long lifetime of over 50 000 h at 100 cd/m(2) initial luminance, and the power efficiency reaches 15 lm/W. The turn-on voltage is 2.4 V, and the operational voltage at 1000 cd/m(2) luminance is only 6.9 V. The significant enhancement of the EL performance is attributed to the improvement of hole injection and interface stability at anode.

Improved efficiency by doping blue iridium (III) complex in europium complex-based light-emitting diodes

We demonstrated high-efficiency red organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) employing a europium complex, Eu (III) tris( thenoyltrifluoroacetone) 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Eu(TTA)(3)(Tmphen)), as an emitter and a blue electrophosphorescent complex, Iridium ( III) bis[4,6-di-fluorophenyl-pyridinato-N,C-2] picolinate (FIrpic), as an assistant dopant codoped into 4,4-N, N-dicarbazole-biphenyl (CBP) host as an emissive layer. A pure red electroluminescence (EL) only from Eu3+ ions at 612 nm with a full width at half maximum of 3 nm was observed and the EL efficiency was significantly enhanced. The maximum EL efficiency reached 7.9 cd A(-1) at 0.01 mA cm(-2) current density, which is enhanced by 2.8 times compared with electrophosphorescence-undoped devices. The large improvements are attributed to energy transfer assistance effects of FIrpic, indicating a promising method for obtaining efficient red OLEDs based on rare-earth complexes.

Ligand effect on the performance of organic light-emitting diodes based on europium complexes

A series of europium complexes were synthesized and their electroluminescent (EL) characteristics were studied. It was found by comparison that the different substituted groups, such as methyl, chlorine, and nitryl, on ligand 1,10-phenanthroline affect significantly the EL performance of devices based on these complexes. The more methyl-substituted groups on ligand 1,10-phenanthroline led to higher device efficiency. A chlorine-substituted group showed the approximate EL performance as two methyl-substituted groups, whereas a nitryl substituent reduced significantly the EL luminous efficiency. However, beta-diketonate ligand TTA and DBM exhibited similar EL performance. The improved EL luminous efficiency by proper substituted groups on the 1, 10-phenanthroline was attributed to the reduction of the energy loss caused by light hydrogen atom vibration, as well as concentration quenching caused by intermolecular interaction, and the match of energy level between the ligand and Eu3+.

Improved color purity and efficiency by a coguest emitter system in doped red light-emitting devices

We demonstrate red organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with improved color purity and electroluminescence (EL) efficiency by codoping a green fluorescent sensitizer 10-(2-benzothiazolyl)-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1, 1, 7,7-tetramethyl-1H, 5H, 11H-(1)-benzopyropyrano(6,7-8-ij)quinolizin-11-one (C545T) as the second dopant and a red fluorescent dye 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6(1,1,7,7tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) as the lumophore into tris(8-hydroquinoline) aluminum (Alq(3)) host. It was found that the C545 T dopant did not by itself emit but assisted the carrier trapping from the host Alq(3) to the red emitting dopant. The red OLEDs realized by this approach not only kept the purity of the emission color, but also significantly improved the EL efficiency. The current efficiency and power efficiency, respectively, reached 12 cd/A at a current density of 0.3 mA/cm(2) and 10lm/W at a current density of 0.02 mA/cm(2), which are enhanced by 1.4 and 2.6 times compared with devices where the emissive layer is composed of the DCJTB doped Alq(3), and a stable red emission (chromaticity coordinates: x = 0.64, y = 0.36) was obtained in a wide range of voltage. Our results indicate that the coguest system is a promising method for obtaining high-efficiency red OLEDs.

Improved efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes based on a europium complex by fluorescent dye

Improved efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on europium complexes have been realized by using a fluorescent dye 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6 (1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl))-4H-pyran (DCJTB) doping. The luminous efficiency of the devices with a fluorescent dye in the emissive layer was found to improve two times of that in devices without fluorescent dye. The devices showed pure red light, which is the characteristic emission of trivalent europium ion with a full-width at half-maximum of 3 nm. The maximum brightness and luminous efficiency reached 1200 cd/m(2) at 23 V and 7.3 cd/A (2.0 Im/w), respectively, at a current density of 0.35 mA/cm(2).

Effect of doped dye on the charge-carrier transport and electroluminescent performance in molecularly doped polymer light-emitting diodes

The effects of the concentration of 10-(2-benzothiazolyl)-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1,1,7,7-tetramethyl-1H, 5H, 11H-(1)-benzopyropyrano(6, 78-i,j)quinolizin-11-one (C545T) as dopant in polyfluorene (PFO) on the charge-carrier transport and electroluminescence (EL) performance were investigated by steady-state and transient EL measurements. A fully green emission from C545T was observed and the EL performance depends strongly on the C545T concentration. The mobility in the C545T-doped PFO film was determined by transient EL. The dopant concentration dependence of the current-voltage relationship indicated clearly the carrier trapping by the C545T molecules. The mobility in C545T:PFO changed significantly with the C545T concentration, and showed a nontrivial dependence on the doping level. The behavior may be understood in terms of the formation of an additional energy disorder due to potential fluctuation caused by the Coulomb interaction of the randomly distributed doping molecules.

High efficiency tandem organic light-emitting devices with Al/WO3/Au interconnecting layer

An interconnecting layer of Al (2 nm)/WO3 (3 nm)/Au (16 nm) was studied for application in tandem organic light-emitting devices. It can be seen that the Al/WO3/Au structure plays the role of an excellent interconnecting layer. The introduction of WO3 in the connection unit significantly improves the device efficiency as compared to the case of Al/Au. Thus, the current efficiency of the two-unit tandem devices is enhanced by two factors with respect to the one-unit devices. The green two-unit tandem device of indium tin oxide/MoO3/4,4(')-N,N-'-bis[N-(1-naphthyl)-N-phenyl-amino]biphenyl(NPB)/tris(8-hydroxylquinoline) aluminum (Alq(3)):10-(2-benzothiazolyl)-1,1,7,7-tetramethyl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H,5H,11H-[1]benzopyrano[6,7,8-ij]quinolizin-11-one (C545T)/Alq(3)/LiF/Al/WO3/Au/MoO3/NPB/Alq(3):C545T/Alq(3)/LiF/Al showed a maximum current efficiency of 33.9 cd/A and a power efficiency of 12.0 lm/W.

Improved color purity and efficiency in polyfluorene-based light-emitting diodes

Polyfluorene (PF) is a class of typical blue electroluminescent (EL) material, but it exhibits undesired feature in the green spectral region under operation condition. We investigated the spectral properties of different device structures of poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO)-based light-emitting diodes, and found that the interaction between cathode and PFO is the main origination of green emission in EL devices. The general method of inserting a buffer layer between the PFO and cathode can decrease the low energy band emission to purify the color and improve the EL performance of devices.