Electrical and optical properties of organic light-emitting diodes with rhenium(I) complexes using DC and AC methods

Abstract

Four rhenium(I) tricarbonyl complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline and derivative bearing electron-donating CH3 and OCH3 substituents were doped into host material poly (9-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) with a mass ratio of 8% as the emissive layer in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). All complexes showed photoluminescence in the solution and embedded into a PVK matrix (λmax∼520–550 nm). The comparison with the bare PVK emission and the compound/PVK film shows that the emission of the polymer was quenched through an energy transfer process from PVK to the dopant. The electrical properties of the devices with FTO/PEDOT:PSS/Complex:PVK/Al architecture were investigated using the DC method by curves of current density-voltage and the AC method as admittance spectroscopy, which showed that the behavior of the devices is controlled by charge carrier injection rather than bulk transport.