Achieving white electroluminescence and low current consumption in devices based on graphene oxide and silicon

Abstract

This work reports the emission of white electroluminescence (EL) in devices based on silicon. These devices are formed by a heterostructure of porous silicon (PSi), graphene oxide (GO), silicon-rich-oxide (SRO) thin films, and zinc oxide (ZnO) as a transparent conductor oxide (contact). The current consumption in these devices has been reduced by approximately three orders of magnitude compared to the current currents commonly reported for electroluminescent devices. The white EL emission is corroborated by the EL spectra, which are very broad (from 400 to 750 nm) and are attributed to the different nanostructured defects present in the materials that make up the heterostructures. The devices exhibited EL only in negative bias. According to our analysis of the I–V curves, the space-charge limited current conduction mechanism is the dominant carrier conduction mechanism in the region where the EL takes place. The electroluminescence exhibited by these devices starts at a current of 1.1 μA and is the entire area electroluminescent at approximately 3 μA reaches its maximum value at 9 μA. We demonstrated that producing LEDs on a Si substrate can result in significant energy savings.