Efficient CdSe/CdS quantum dot light-emitting diodes using a thermally polymerized hole transport layer

Jialong Zhao; Julie A Bardecker; Andrea M Munro; Michelle S Liu; Yuhua Niu; I-Kang Ding; Jingdong Luo; Baoquan Chen; Alex K-Y Jen; David S Ginger

doi:10.1021/nl052417e

Efficient CdSe/CdS quantum dot light-emitting diodes using a thermally polymerized hole transport layer

Nano Lett. 2006 Mar;6(3):463-7. doi: 10.1021/nl052417e.

Authors

Jialong Zhao¹, Julie A Bardecker, Andrea M Munro, Michelle S Liu, Yuhua Niu, I-Kang Ding, Jingdong Luo, Baoquan Chen, Alex K-Y Jen, David S Ginger

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Box 351700, Seattle, 98195-1700, USA.

PMID: 16522043
DOI: 10.1021/nl052417e

Abstract

We report multilayer nanocrystal quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QD-LEDs) fabricated by spin-coating a monolayer of colloidal CdSe/CdS nanocrystals on top of thermally polymerized solvent-resistant hole-transport layers (HTLs). We obtain high-quality QD layers of controlled thickness (down to submonolayer) simply by spin-coating QD solutions directly onto the HTL. The resulting QD-LEDs exhibit narrow ( approximately 30 nm, fwhm) electroluminescence from the QDs with virtually no emission from the organic matrix at any voltage. Using multiple spin-on HTLs improves the external quantum efficiency of the QD-LEDs to approximately 0.8% at a brightness of 100 cd/m(2) (with a maximum brightness over 1,000 cd/m(2)). We conclude that QD-LEDs could be made more efficient by further optimization of the organic semiconductors.