IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-48553-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inverted device architecture for high efficiency single-layer organic light-emitting diodes with imbalanced charge transport

Author

Listed:
  • Xiao Tan

    (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research)

  • Dehai Dou

    (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research)

  • Lay-Lay Chua

    (National University of Singapore
    Department of Chemistry)

  • Rui-Qi Png

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Daniel G. Congrave

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Hugo Bronstein

    (University of Cambridge
    University of Cambridge)

  • Martin Baumgarten

    (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research)

  • Yungui Li

    (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research)

  • Paul W. M. Blom

    (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research)

  • Gert-Jan A. H. Wetzelaer

    (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research)

Abstract

Many wide-gap organic semiconductors exhibit imbalanced electron and hole transport, therefore efficient organic light-emitting diodes require a multilayer architecture of electron- and hole-transport materials to confine charge recombination to the emissive layer. Here, we show that even for emitters with imbalanced charge transport, it is possible to obtain highly efficient single-layer organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), without the need for additional charge-transport and blocking layers. For hole-dominated emitters, an inverted single-layer device architecture with ohmic bottom-electron and top-hole contacts moves the emission zone away from the metal top electrode, thereby more than doubling the optical outcoupling efficiency. Finally, a blue-emitting inverted single-layer OLED based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence is achieved, exhibiting a high external quantum efficiency of 19% with little roll-off at high brightness, demonstrating that balanced charge transport is not a prerequisite for highly efficient single-layer OLEDs.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiao Tan & Dehai Dou & Lay-Lay Chua & Rui-Qi Png & Daniel G. Congrave & Hugo Bronstein & Martin Baumgarten & Yungui Li & Paul W. M. Blom & Gert-Jan A. H. Wetzelaer, 2024. "Inverted device architecture for high efficiency single-layer organic light-emitting diodes with imbalanced charge transport," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-48553-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48553-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48553-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-48553-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William L. Barnes & Alain Dereux & Thomas W. Ebbesen, 2003. "Surface plasmon subwavelength optics," Nature, Nature, vol. 424(6950), pages 824-830, August.
    2. M. A. Baldo & D. F. O'Brien & Y. You & A. Shoustikov & S. Sibley & M. E. Thompson & S. R. Forrest, 1998. "Highly efficient phosphorescent emission from organic electroluminescent devices," Nature, Nature, vol. 395(6698), pages 151-154, September.
    3. Cindy G. Tang & Mazlan Nur Syafiqah & Qi-Mian Koh & Chao Zhao & Jamal Zaini & Qiu-Jing Seah & Michael J. Cass & Martin J. Humphries & Ilaria Grizzi & Jeremy H. Burroughes & Rui-Qi Png & Lay-Lay Chua &, 2019. "Multivalent anions as universal latent electron donors," Nature, Nature, vol. 573(7775), pages 519-525, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Yen-Hsiang & Shih, Fu-Yuan & Lee, Ming-Tsang & Lee, Yung-Chun & Chen, Yu-Bin, 2020. "Development of lightweight energy-saving glass and its near-field electromagnetic analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Zhao-Siu Tan & Zaini Jamal & Desmond W. Y. Teo & Hor-Cheng Ko & Zong-Long Seah & Hao-Yu Phua & Peter K. H. Ho & Rui-Qi Png & Lay-Lay Chua, 2024. "Optimization of fluorinated phenyl azides as universal photocrosslinkers for semiconducting polymers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Shun Kondo & Mana Kameyama & Kentaro Imaoka & Yoko Shimoi & Fabrice Mathevet & Takashi Fujihara & Hiroshi Goto & Hajime Nakanotani & Masayuki Yahiro & Chihaya Adachi, 2024. "Organic thermoelectric device utilizing charge transfer interface as the charge generation by harvesting thermal energy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Olga Guselnikova & Andrii Trelin & Yunqing Kang & Pavel Postnikov & Makoto Kobashi & Asuka Suzuki & Lok Kumar Shrestha & Joel Henzie & Yusuke Yamauchi, 2024. "Pretreatment-free SERS sensing of microplastics using a self-attention-based neural network on hierarchically porous Ag foams," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Ziyang Liu & Xiao Li & Yang Lu & Chen Zhang & Yuewei Zhang & Tianyu Huang & Dongdong Zhang & Lian Duan, 2022. "In situ-formed tetrahedrally coordinated double-helical metal complexes for improved coordination-activated n-doping," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Sergejs Boroviks & Zhan-Hong Lin & Vladimir A. Zenin & Mario Ziegler & Andrea Dellith & P. A. D. Gonçalves & Christian Wolff & Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi & Jer-Shing Huang & N. Asger Mortensen, 2022. "Extremely confined gap plasmon modes: when nonlocality matters," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    7. Day, Joseph & Senthilarasu, S. & Mallick, Tapas K., 2019. "Improving spectral modification for applications in solar cells: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 186-205.
    8. Xinxin Gao & Ze Gu & Qian Ma & Bao Jie Chen & Kam-Man Shum & Wen Yi Cui & Jian Wei You & Tie Jun Cui & Chi Hou Chan, 2024. "Terahertz spoof plasmonic neural network for diffractive information recognition and processing," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Sugawara, Carmen Luca & Kim, Hea-Won & Modić Stanke, Koraljka & Krasniqi, Vjollca & Basic, Sanela, 2023. "The role of community-university engagement in strengthening local community capacity in Southeastern Europe," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    10. Bo Tong & Jinhong Du & Lichang Yin & Dingdong Zhang & Weimin Zhang & Yu Liu & Yuning Wei & Chi Liu & Yan Liang & Dong-Ming Sun & Lai-Peng Ma & Hui-Ming Cheng & Wencai Ren, 2022. "A polymer electrolyte design enables ultralow-work-function electrode for high-performance optoelectronics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Jaewook Kim & Joonghyuk Kim & Yongjun Kim & Youngmok Son & Youngsik Shin & Hye Jin Bae & Ji Whan Kim & Sungho Nam & Yongsik Jung & Hyeonsu Kim & Sungwoo Kang & Yoonsoo Jung & Kyunghoon Lee & Hyeonho C, 2023. "Critical role of electrons in the short lifetime of blue OLEDs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    12. Jiménez-Calvo, Pablo & Caps, Valérie & Keller, Valérie, 2021. "Plasmonic Au-based junctions onto TiO2, gC3N4, and TiO2-gC3N4 systems for photocatalytic hydrogen production: Fundamentals and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    13. Rui Pu & Qiuqiang Zhan & Xingyun Peng & Siying Liu & Xin Guo & Liangliang Liang & Xian Qin & Ziqing Winston Zhao & Xiaogang Liu, 2022. "Super-resolution microscopy enabled by high-efficiency surface-migration emission depletion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    14. Xiangdong Guo & Chenchen Wu & Shu Zhang & Debo Hu & Shunping Zhang & Qiao Jiang & Xiaokang Dai & Yu Duan & Xiaoxia Yang & Zhipei Sun & Shuang Zhang & Hongxing Xu & Qing Dai, 2023. "Mid-infrared analogue polaritonic reversed Cherenkov radiation in natural anisotropic crystals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    15. Dan, Atasi & Barshilia, Harish C. & Chattopadhyay, Kamanio & Basu, Bikramjit, 2017. "Solar energy absorption mediated by surface plasma polaritons in spectrally selective dielectric-metal-dielectric coatings: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1050-1077.
    16. Nan Zhang & Lei Qu & Shuheng Dai & Guohua Xie & Chunmiao Han & Jing Zhang & Ran Huo & Huan Hu & Qiushui Chen & Wei Huang & Hui Xu, 2023. "Intramolecular charge transfer enables highly-efficient X-ray luminescence in cluster scintillators," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    17. Pode, Ramchandra, 2020. "Organic light emitting diode devices: An energy efficient solid state lighting for applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    18. Rishi Verma & Gunjan Sharma & Vivek Polshettiwar, 2024. "The paradox of thermal vs. non-thermal effects in plasmonic photocatalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-45, December.
    19. Cindy Guanyu Tang & Mazlan Nur Syafiqah & Qi-Mian Koh & Mervin Chun-Yi Ang & Kim-Kian Choo & Ming-Ming Sun & Martin Callsen & Yuan-Ping Feng & Lay-Lay Chua & Rui-Qi Png & Peter K. H. Ho, 2023. "Water binding and hygroscopicity in π-conjugated polyelectrolytes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    20. Xiaokang Yao & Yuxin Li & Huifang Shi & Ze Yu & Beishen Wu & Zixing Zhou & Chifeng Zhou & Xifang Zheng & Mengting Tang & Xiao Wang & Huili Ma & Zhengong Meng & Wei Huang & Zhongfu An, 2024. "Narrowband room temperature phosphorescence of closed-loop molecules through the multiple resonance effect," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-48553-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.