Cubic Zincblende ZnSe Nanowires with an Entangling Structure Grown via Oriented Attachment and Their Application in Organic–Inorganic Heterojunction Light-Emitting Diodes

Abstract

Cubic ZnSe nanowires with a polymer-like entangling structure and their application in polymer light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are reported in this paper. The entangling nanostructure of ZnSe, which is observed for the first time, is grown on the basis of the oriented attachment mechanism but does not occur completely unidirectionally. This polymer-like entangling structure can hybridize with conductive polymers to form an interpenetrating network that can provide continuous paths for carriers. By incorporating ZnSe entangling nanowires into a poly[2-methoxy-5-((2-ethylhexyl)oxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV) matrix to form an inorganic–organic p–n heterojunction, the device electroluminescence intensity significantly increases more than 330% and the driving voltage decreases ∼26% for single-layer MEH-PPV LEDs.