Improved efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes with self-assembled molybdenum oxide hole injection layers

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate the use of self-assembly to fabricate solution-processed molybdenum oxide (MoO3) films by simply casting a metal oxide solution onto an indium tin oxide substrate. The self-assembled MoO3 (SA-MoO3) films were used as hole injection layers (HILs) in green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes. The devices with SA-MoO3 HILs exhibited nearly double the efficiency of the one made with commonly used evaporated MoO3 (e-MoO3) HILs. This improvement was attributed to the much smoother surface and smaller grains of the SA-MoO3 films to reduce the leakage currents, as shown by monitoring the surface morphology via atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The work function and Mo 3d core level characteristics were determined via ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The e-MoO3 film offered better conductivity and hole injection ability; however, the increased device current may not enhance electroluminance proportionally. As a result, the efficiencies of SA-MoO3 devices were better than those of e-MoO3 devices.