Peak External Quantum Efficiency Research Articles

Elaborate Design of d8-d10 Heteronuclear Phosphors for Ultrahigh-Efficiency Solution-Processed Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

Highly soluble d8-d10 heteronuclear phosphors afford an alternative approach to achieve high-efficiency organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) through a solution process. In this work, four highly phosphorescent d8-d10 heteronuclear complexes with significant Pt-Au interactions were prepared. By judicious selection of sterically hindered and π-conjugated substituents in triphosphine ligands, the phosphorescence is dramatically promoted through effectively prohibiting nonradiative thermal relaxation with an efficiency of 0.94-0.99 in doping films. Exploiting highly emissive Pt-Au complexes as phosphorescent dopants, ultrahigh-efficiency solution-processed OLEDs were attained. The peak current efficiency, power efficiency, and external quantum efficiency are 96.2 cd A-1, 65.0 lm W-1, and 26.4% for the green-emitting PtAu2 phosphor and 68.6 cd A-1, 42.5 lm W-1, and 25.1% for the orange-emitting Pt2Au phosphor, which represent the state-of-art for solution-processed OLEDs based on non-iridium phosphors.

Perovskite Light-Emitting Devices with Doped Hole Transporting Layer.

Perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) have drawn global attention in recent years and have been used in a range of semiconductor devices, especially for light-emitting diodes (LEDs). However, because of the nature of low-conductive ligands of PQDs and surface and bulk defects in the devices, charge injection and transport should be carefully managed in order to maximize the electroluminescent performances. In this study, we employed three p-dopants, i.e., 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ), 1,3,4,5,7,8-hexafluoro-11,11,12,12-tetracyanonaphtho-2,6-quinodimethane (F6-TCNNQ), and 11,11,12,12-tetracyanonaphtho-2,6-quinodimethane (TCNH14), respectively doped into the commonly used hole transporting layer (HTL) poly[bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine] (PTAA). Compared with the devices with the neat PTAA, those with the doped PTAA as the HTLs achieved the improved electroluminescent performances. In particular, the device with the strong oxidant F4-TCNQ exhibited an improvement factor of 27% in the peak external quantum efficiency compared with the control device with the neat PTAA. The capacitance and transient electroluminescent measurements were carried out to identify the imperceptible interactions in the doped HTL and at the interface between the HTL and PQDs.

Blue semipolar InGaN microcavity light-emitting diode with varying cavity lengths from 113 to 290 nm

Blue semipolar InGaN microcavity light-emitting diodes (MC-LEDs) with geometrical cavity lengths of 113, 205 and 290 nm were fabricated, demonstrating the feasibility of ultra-thin MC-LEDs. Precise positioning of the active layer in the cavity is shown to be possible. The peak external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of 113 nm cavity length MC-LEDs with quantum well (QW) positions at 46%, 60% and 75% of the cavity height counted from the top of the device were 0.6%, 2.5% and 0%, respectively. The 113 nm cavity MC-LED with the QW position of 75% should have the highest light extraction efficiency of 35% but showed no emission due to a high leakage current caused by the device fabrication process. The 290 nm cavity length MC-LED had the highest peak EQE of 6.7%. The peak wavelength was almost constant at 430 nm at a current density from 289 to 1868 A cm−2 under pulsed operation.

Enhancing the efficiency of solution-processed inverted quantum dot light-emitting diodes via ligand modification with 6-mercaptohexanol.

In this Letter, the surface hydrophilicity of the quantum dot (QD) emitting layer (EML) was modified via a ligand exchange to prevent QD EML damage upon hole transport layer (HTL) deposition for all-solution-processed inverted QD-light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). The conventional hydrophobic oleic acid ligand (OA-QDs) was partially replaced with a hydrophilic 6-mercaptohexanol (OH-QDs) through a one-pot ligand exchange. Owing to this replacement, the contact angle of a water droplet on the OH-QD films was reduced to 71.7° from 89.5° on the OA-QD films, indicating the conversion to hydrophilic hydroxyl ligands. The OH-QD EML maintained its integrity without any noticeable damage, even after HTL deposition, enabling all-solution processing for inverted QLEDs with well-organized multilayers. Inverted QLEDs with the OH-QD EMLs were compared with those with OA-QD EMLs; the maximum current efficiency of the device with the OH-QD EML significantly improved to 39.0 cd A-1 from 5.3 cd A-1, and the peak external quantum efficiency improved to 9.3% from 1.2%, which is a seven-fold increase over the OA-QD device. This approach is believed to be effective for forming solid QD films with resistance to chlorobenzene, a representative HTL solvent, and consequently contributes to high-efficiency all-solution-processed inverted QLEDs.

Lead-Free Organic-Perovskite Hybrid Quantum Wells for Highly Stable Light-Emitting Diodes.

Two-dimensional perovskites that could be regarded as natural organic-inorganic hybrid quantum wells (HQWs) are promising for light-emitting diode (LED) applications. High photoluminescence quantum efficiencies (approaching 80%) and extremely narrow emission bandwidth (less than 20 nm) have been demonstrated in their single crystals; however, a reliable electrically driven LED device has not been realized owing to inefficient charge injection and extremely poor stability. Furthermore, the use of toxic lead raises concerns. Here, we report Sn(II)-based organic-perovskite HQWs employing molecularly tailored organic semiconducting barrier layers for efficient and stable LEDs. Utilizing femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, we demonstrate the energy transfer from organic barrier to inorganic perovskite emitter occurs faster than the intramolecular charge transfer in the organic layer. Consequently, this process allows efficient conversion of lower-energy emission associated with the organic layer into higher-energy emission from the perovskite layer. This greatly broadened the candidate pool for the organic layer. Incorporating a bulky small bandgap organic barrier in the HQW, charge transport is enhanced and ion migration is greatly suppressed. We demonstrate a HQW-LED device with pure red emission, a maximum luminance of 3466 cd m-2, a peak external quantum efficiency up to 3.33%, and an operational stability of over 150 h, which are significantly better than previously reported lead-free perovskite LEDs.

Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes with Near Unit Internal Quantum Efficiency at Low Temperatures.

Room-temperature-high-efficiency light-emitting diodes based on metal halide perovskite FAPbI3 are shown to be able to work perfectly at low temperatures. A peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 32.8%, corresponding to an internal quantum efficiency of 100%, is achieved at 45K. Importantly, the devices show almost no degradation after working at a constant current density of 200mAm-2 for 330h. The enhanced EQEs at low temperatures result from the increased photoluminescence quantum efficiencies of the perovskite, which is caused by the increased radiative recombination rate. Spectroscopic and calculation results suggest that the phase transitions of the FAPbI3 play an important role for the enhancement of exciton binding energy, which increases the recombination rate.

Efficient and low-voltage vertical organic permeable base light-emitting transistors.

Organic light-emitting transistors, three-terminal devices combining a thin-film transistor with a light-emitting diode, have generated increasing interest in organic electronics. However, increasing their efficiency while keeping the operating voltage low still remains a key challenge. Here, we demonstrate organic permeable base light-emitting transistors; these three-terminal vertical optoelectronic devices operate at driving voltages below 5.0 V; emit in the red, green and blue ranges; and reach, respectively, peak external quantum efficiencies of 19.6%, 24.6% and 11.8%, current efficiencies of 20.6 cd A-1, 90.1 cd A-1 and 27.1 cd A-1 and maximum luminance values of 9,833 cd m-2, 12,513 cd m-2 and 4,753 cd m-2. Our simulations demonstrate that the nano-pore permeable base electrode located at the centre of the device, which forms a distinctive optical microcavity and regulates charge carrier injection and transport, is the key to the good performance obtained. Our work paves the way towards efficient and low-voltage organic light-emitting transistors, useful for power-efficient active matrix displays and solid-state lighting.

Solvent‐Regulated Electronic Structure and Morphology of Inorganic Hole Injection Layers for Efficient Quantum Dot Light‐Emitting Diodes

Inorganic charge transport layers (CTLs) have been proven to be effective for improving the stability of electroluminescent devices. However, the effective regulation of electronic structure for solution‐processed inorganic CTLs is still challenging by doping or interface engineering, and the film morphology is usually poor due to surface aggregation. Herein, the energy level and mobility of inorganic phosphomolybdic acid (PMA) hole injection layers (HILs) are regulated by adjusting the polarity of solvents, and the resulting inorganic HILs with proper electronic structure act as an energy ladder to better promote hole injection, thereby achieving balanced carrier transport in quantum dot light‐emitting diodes (QLEDs). Meanwhile, the surface morphology of the inorganic PMA film is also improved using solvents with high boiling points, which minimizes the surface tension and is conducive to the formation of smooth and pinhole‐free films. As a result, the devices using PMA dissolved in n‐butanol with a lower polarity exhibit a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 19.2%, which is 3.6 times higher than that of QLEDs using PMA obtained from acetone solvent with a higher polarity. Herein, a general method for the deposition of high‐quality HILs for the fabrication of solution‐processed inorganic functional layers and optoelectronic devices is provided.

Critical role of additive-induced molecular interaction on the operational stability of perovskite light-emitting diodes

Summary Despite rapid improvements in efficiency and brightness of perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs), the poor operational stability remains a critical challenge hindering their practical applications. Here, we demonstrate greatly improved operational stability of high-efficiency PeLEDs, enabled by incorporating dicarboxylic acids into the precursor for perovskite depositions. We reveal that the dicarboxylic acids efficiently eliminate reactive organic ingredients in perovskite emissive layers through an in situ amidation process, which is catalyzed by the alkaline zinc oxide substrate. The formed stable amides prohibit detrimental reactions between the perovskites and the charge injection layer underneath, stabilizing the perovskites and the interfacial contacts and ensuring the excellent operational stability of the resulting PeLEDs. Through rationally optimizing the amidation reaction in the perovskite emissive layers, we achieve efficient PeLEDs with a peak external quantum efficiency of 18.6% and a long half-life time of 682 h at 20 mA cm−2, presenting an important breakthrough in PeLEDs.

Efficient excimer-based white OLEDs with reduced efficiency roll-off

A tetradentate Pt(II) complex, Pt2O2-p2m, which exhibits both efficient monomer and excimer emission, was synthesized. Through rational device design to broaden the recombination zone, an OLED device employing Pt2O2-p2m demonstrated an impressively high peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 21.5% and a warm white emission with a color rendering index of 71 and Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage coordinates of (0.409, 0.458). Moreover, a reduced efficiency roll-off was also observed to retain high EQE values of 20% EQE at 1000 cd/m2 and 17% EQE at 5000 cd/m2, and an LT70 (time to 70% initial luminance) was estimated to be over 150 h at 1000 cd/m2 under constant operation at accelerated driving conditions.

Triphenylamine-based trinuclear Pt(II) complexes for solution-processed OLEDs displaying efficient pure yellow and red emissions

Highly efficient phosphors are critical in solution-processed organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). Multinuclear Ir(III) complexes containing more than one metal center have showed great potential in fabricating high performance OLEDs, yet the electroluminescent (EL) properties of multinuclear Pt(II) complexes are rarely studied. In this work, two neutral trinuclear Pt(II) complexes are synthesized based on the triphenylamine core bearing three bidentate ligand arms. Both the yellow emitter (PyTPt) and deep-red emitter (IqTPt) exhibit improved photoluminescent quantum yields (PLQYs) compared with their corresponding mononuclear Pt(II) complexes. Furthermore, the PLQYs of PyTPt and IqTPt doped films are increased to 0.63 and 0.47, respectively. The solution-processed pure yellow-emitting device based on PyTPt achieves impressively high external quantum efficiency (EQE), current efficiency (CE), and power efficiency (PE) of 16.92%, 56.74 cd/A and 29.09 lm W−1, respectively, which are among the best performance reported for the OLEDs employing multinuclear Pt(II) complexes. The solution-processed device based on IqTPt shows pure red emission with the peak EQE approaching 9.0%. Both PyTPt and IqTPt display much higher EL efficiencies than their corresponding mononuclear Pt(II) complexes. This work demonstrates that it is an attritive strategy to develop multinuclear Pt(II) complexes for high-performance OLEDs.

Enhanced external quantum efficiency of III-nitride micro-light-emitting diodes using vertical and transparent package

In this work, 40 × 40 μm2 blue InGaN micro-light-emitting diodes (μLEDs) with transparent and vertical package was first demonstrated by using either double-side polished zinc oxide (ZnO) or sapphire substrate as a transparent submount. The performance of the vertical and conventional packages was compared, where the devices packaged vertically resulted in smaller blueshift in peak wavelength with increasing drive current due to the higher junction temperature. Moreover, devices packaged vertically with the sapphire submount offered 19% and 32% greater light output power at 20 and 100 A cm−2, respectively, and 18% improvement in maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) than devices with conventional package. Finally, the peak EQE of 58% was achieved from the μLED packaged vertically using a sapphire submount.

High‐Performance Ultrapure Green CdSe/CdS Core/Crown Nanoplatelet Light‐Emitting Diodes by Suppressing Nonradiative Energy Transfer

AbstractColloidal nanoplatelets (NPLs) are an emerging semiconductor nanocrystal in the display community due to their ultranarrow emission linewidth. Herein, an ultrapure green emitting nanocrystal light‐emitting diode (LED) based on four‐monolayer CdSe/CdS core/crown NPLs is developed. By applying the nonstacked nanoplates, the nonradiative energy transfer in the NPLs film is successfully suppressed. The nonstacked NPL‐LEDs with pure green emission of 521.5 nm exhibit a low turn‐on voltage of 2.1 V, a maximum luminance of 22 400 cd m−2, a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 2.16%, which is a sixfold enhancement comparing to the stacked NPL‐LED (EQE = 0.34%). This work demonstrates the potential of core/crown NPLs for ultrawide color gamut displays.

High efficiency blue InGaN microcavity light-emitting diode with a 205 nm ultra-short cavity

High-efficiency blue InGaN-based semipolar (20-2-1) ultra-short microcavity light-emitting diodes (MC-LEDs) with a cavity length of 205 nm were demonstrated. A peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 7.3%, the value of which is almost the same as 10% of conventional c-plane micrometer-sized microlight-emitting diodes with a device thickness of ∼5 μm grown on the sapphire substrate, was achieved. The emission wavelength is 431 nm at the current density of 297 A/cm2. In order to obtain high-efficiency MC-LEDs, a sidewall treatment was performed by using buffered hydrofluoric acid and phosphoric acid (H3PO4) to remove the dry etching residue and the surface damage. The demonstration of MC-LEDs with a high EQE and a single mode emission should pave the way for the application to display and others.

Reducing the impact of Auger recombination in quasi-2D perovskite light-emitting diodes

Rapid Auger recombination represents an important challenge faced by quasi-2D perovskites, which induces resulting perovskite light-emitting diodes’ (PeLEDs) efficiency roll-off. In principle, Auger recombination rate is proportional to materials’ exciton binding energy (Eb). Thus, Auger recombination can be suppressed by reducing the corresponding materials’ Eb. Here, a polar molecule, p-fluorophenethylammonium, is employed to generate quasi-2D perovskites with reduced Eb. Recombination kinetics reveal the Auger recombination rate does decrease to one-order-of magnitude lower compared to its PEA+ analogues. After effective passivation, nonradiative recombination is greatly suppressed, which enables resulting films to exhibit outstanding photoluminescence quantum yields in a broad range of excitation density. We herein demonstrate the very efficient PeLEDs with a peak external quantum efficiency of 20.36%. More importantly, devices exhibit a record luminance of 82,480 cd m−2 due to the suppressed efficiency roll-off, which represent one of the brightest visible PeLEDs yet.

Efficient and stable organic light-emitting devices employing phosphorescent molecular aggregates

Stable and efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) operating at high brightness are desirable for future high-resolution displays and lighting products. Here, we report a tetradentate Pd(ii) complex called Pd3O8-P, which has attractive optoelectronics properties. At room temperature, aggregates of Pd3O8-P exhibited a close-to-unity photoluminescent quantum yield and a short transient lifetime of 0.62 μs. A host-free Pd3O8-P yellow-orange OLED emitted light with a peak at 588 nm, a half-bandwidth of 84 nm and CIE coordinates of (0.52, 0.47), and achieved a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 34.8%. The device had reduced efficiency roll-off, retaining high EQEs of 33.5% at 1,000 cd m−2 and 29.5% at 10,000 cd m−2. The estimated operational half-lifetime was 9.59 million hours at 1,000 cd m−2. The fact that the tetradentate metal complex has a triplet in the blue-emitting region may also assist the development of efficient and long-lived blue OLEDs in the future. A tetradentate Pd(ii) complex with near unity photoluminescent quantum yield is the basis of bright, long-lifetime organic LEDs.

Photocross-Linkable Hole Transport Materials for Inkjet-Printed High-Efficient Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes.

Efficient approach based on the photochemistry of benzophenone has been developed for the cross-linking of the polymer hole-transporting layer (HTL). The cross-linked poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-(4,4'-(N-(4-butylphenyl) (TFB) thin films showed high solvent stability, smooth surface morphology, and improved charge-carrier mobility. The solution-processed red, green, and blue (RGB) quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) based on the cross-linked HTLs showed much better performances than the corresponding devices based on the pristine TFB HTLs. The spin-coated red QLEDs based on the cross-linked HTLs showed the maximum current efficiency (CE), the maximum power efficiency (PE), and the peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 32.3 cd A-1, 42.3 lm W-1, and 21.4%, respectively. The inkjet-printed red QLEDs with the cross-linked HTLs exhibited the CE, PE, and EQE of 26.5 cd A-1, 37.8 lm W-1, and 18.1%, respectively. The high-performance HTLs were obtained by significantly reducing the amount of cross-linking agents.

Double Electron Transport Layer and Optimized CsPbI3 Nanocrystal Emitter for Efficient Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes

Improved device performance of perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is demonstrated through the synergistic effect of the optimized CsPbI3 nanocrystals (NCs) as the emissive layer (EML) and ZnO/C60 bilayer as electron transport layers (ETLs). The optical characteristics of the CsPbI3 NCs were optimized by strictly controlling the feeding ratio of Cs:Pb:I to 1:1:3 in the synthesis processes of NCs, which leads to enhanced photoluminescence quantum yields (PL QY) from 65% to 92%. Additionally, the introduction of C60 not only optimized the energy level structure of the device, leading to more balanced charge injection and transport, but also smoothed the surface of the ZnO film and perovskite NCs. Consequently, a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 10.7% and maximum luminance of 1377 cd m–2 were achieved.

Deep Blue Layered Lead Perovskite Light‐Emitting Diode

AbstractThe perovskite light‐emitting diode (PeLED) based on lead has the advantages of excellent purity, high efficiency, and good brightness. In order to develop a highly luminescent and deep blue lead halide perovskite light emitting diode, here, a two‐dimensional layered lead perovskite owning the high deep blue photoluminescence quantum yield 80% at 445 nm is reported. In addition, the maximum recording brightness and the peak external quantum efficiency of the PeLED is 1315 cd m−2 and 3.08%, respectively, which outdoes that of previously reported deep blue lead PeLEDs. The half‐life of the device reaches 3.5 h at 5 V. This work clearly shows that the layered lead perovskite will provide a route to fabricate stable and high‐performance deep blue emission PeLEDs.

Temperature-dependent electroluminescence study on 265-nm AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes grown on AlN substrates

Temperature-dependent electroluminescence measurements are performed for 265-nm AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown on AlN substrates. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) increases as the temperature decreases from 293 K to 6 K. Using two assumptions, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and current injection efficiency (CIE) are unity at the peak EQE at 6 K and the light extraction efficiency is independent of current and temperature, the current and temperature dependences of the product (IQE × CIE) are derived. The temperature dependence of the EQE cannot be simply explained by the Auger recombination processes. This observation enables the CIE and IQE to be separately extracted by rate equation analysis. The room-temperature EQE of the AlGaN-based DUV LEDs is limited by the CIE and not the IQE. We propose that the relatively low CIE may originate from the nonradiative recombination process outside quantum-well layers.