Singlet Exciton Quenching by Radical Cations of Aromatic Diamines as an Electron Donor in Organic Electroluminescent Devices

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this study, we report the luminescence quenching by radical cations of aromatic diamines used as a hole transport layer (HTL) in organic electroluminescent (EL) devices. The EL characteristics of green organic EL devices with an electron transport layer (ETL) as an emitter i.e. ITO/TPD HTL/Alq3ETL/Al is studied. Here, ITO, TPD, and Alq3are abbreviations for indium-tin-oxide, N,N’-diphenyl-N,N’-bis(3-methylphenyl)-1,1’-biphenyl-4,4’-diamine, and tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum, respectively. UV-visible absorption and electrochemical data indicate the formation of radical cations in thin film and solution of TPD after chemical oxidation. We find that the EL luminance increases less than linearly with an increase in current for the EL devices studied in this study. The luminance loss in the devices is attributed to quenching of singlet excited states by large excess radical cations of TPD are accumulated in the emission zone due to large overlap between a flourescence spectrum of Alq3and an absorption spectrum of radical cations of TPD.