Fabrication of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Using Photosynthetic Pigments Extracted from Spinach

Abstract

We fabricated organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) containing chlorophylls in the active region, which were extracted from spinach using a chemical method. Photoluminescence (PL) cannot be observed in the thin film of the extracted chlorophylls owing to concentration quenching. To overcome the concentration quenching, a host material, poly[(m-phenylenevinylene)-alt-(2,5-dihexyloxy-p-phenylenevinylene)] (PPV) was added in the active region. This leads to the observaton of electroluminescence (EL) signals originating from chlorophyll a. We also evaluated the lifetime of the PL and EL. Consequently, the OLEDs containing carotenoids in the active region exhibit the light-emission much longer time than that without carotenoidos. This is assigned to the antioxidant activities of carotenoids. OLEDs containing a large amount of carotenoids are resistant to the oxidation damage.