Electric field switching between blue-green and red cathodoluminescence in poly(4,4′- diphenylene diphenylvinylene) mixed with ZnO:Mg nanoparticles

Abstract

We report the effect of reversible switching between blue-green and red cathodoluminescence (CL) in poly(4,4′-diphenylene diphenylvinylene) (PDPV), mixed with the 12–60nm size ZnO:Mg nanoparticles by applying an electric field. We found that without electric field the CL emission maximum is in the blue-green region for a PDPV–ZnO:Mg composite deposited on Si–SiO2 substrate with gold electrodes. Application of positive bias suppressed the blue-green emission and shifted the emission maximum to the red region. The mechanism for the formation of the exited states in PDPV–ZnO:Mg structure implies the presence of radiative recombination channels, which can be controlled by an electric field.