Energy level alignment at the interface of NPB/HAT-CN/graphene for flexible organic light-emitting diodes

Blue emitting exciplex for yellow and white organic light-emitting diodes

White organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) have several desirable features, but their commercialization is hindered by the poor stability of blue light emitters and high production costs due to complicated device structures. Herein, we investigate a standard blue emitting hole transporting material (HTM) N,N'-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N'-bis(phenyl)benzidine (NPB) and its exciplex emission upon combining with a suitable electron transporting material (ETM), 3-(biphenyl-4-yl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-4-phenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole (TAZ). Blue and yellow OLEDs with simple device structures are developed by using a blend layer, NPB:TAZ, as a blue emitter as well as a host for yellow phosphorescent dopant iridium (III) bis(4-phenylthieno[3,2-c]pyridinato-N,C2')acetylacetonate (PO-01). Strategic device design then exploits the ambipolar charge transport properties of tetracene as a spacer layer to connect these blue and yellow emitting units. The tetracene-linked device demonstrates more promising results compared to those using a conventional charge generation layer (CGL). Judicious choice of the spacer prevents exciton diffusion from the blue emitter unit, yet facilitates charge carrier transport to the yellow emitter unit to enable additional exciplex formation. This complementary behavior of the spacer improves the blue emission properties concomitantly yielding reasonable yellow emission. The overall white light emission properties are enhanced, achieving CIE coordinates (0.36, 0.39) and color temperature (4643 K) similar to daylight. Employing intermolecular exciplex emission in OLEDs simplifies the device architecture via its dual functionality as a host and as an emitter.

Effects of HAT-CN Layer Thickness on Molecular Orientation and Energy-Level Alignment with ZnPc

Efficient energy-level alignment is crucial for achieving high performance in organic electronic devices. Because the electronic structure of an organic semiconductor is significantly influenced by its molecular orientation, comprehensively understanding the molecular orientation and electronic structure of the organic layer is essential. In this study, we investigated the interface between a 1,4,5,8,9,11-hexaazatriphenylene hexacarbonitrile (HAT-CN) hole injection layer and a zinc-phthalocyanine (ZnPc) p-type organic semiconductor. To determine the energy-level alignment and molecular orientation, we conducted in situ ultraviolet and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, as well as angle-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy. We found that the HAT-CN molecules were oriented relatively face-on (40°) in the thin (5 nm) layer, whereas they were oriented relatively edge-on (62°) in the thick (100 nm) layer. By contrast, ZnPc orientation was not significantly altered by the underlying HAT-CN orientation. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of ZnPc was closer to the Fermi level on the 100 nm thick HAT-CN layer than on the 5 nm thick HAT-CN layer because of the higher work function. Consequently, a considerably low energy gap between the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital level of HAT-CN and the HOMO level of ZnPc was formed in the 100 nm thick HAT-CN case. This may improve the hole injection ability of the anode system, which can be utilized in various electronic devices.

Self-Assembly of a Triphenylene-Based Electron Donor Molecule on Graphene: Structural and Electronic Properties

In this study, we report on the self-assembly of the organic electron donor 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexamethoxytriphenylene (HAT) on graphene grown epitaxially on Ir(111). Using scanning tunneling microscopy and low-energy electron diffraction, we find that a monolayer of HAT assembles in a commensurate close-packed hexagonal network on graphene/Ir(111). X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements indicate that no charge transfer between the HAT molecules and the graphene/Ir(111) substrate takes place, while the work function decreases slightly. This demonstrates that the HAT/graphene interface is weakly interacting. The fact that the molecules nonetheless form a commensurate network deviates from what is established for adsorption of organic molecules on metallic substrates where commensurate overlayers are mainly observed for strongly interacting systems.

Device-Based Probe of Triplet Exciton Diffusion in Singlet Fission Materials

Probing triplet transport in singlet fission materials can be challenging due to the presence of multiple diffusing species. We present a device-based method to measure the intrinsic triplet diffusion length (L_D) in organic semiconductor thin films exhibiting singlet fission. Triplet states are optically injected into the singlet fission material of interest via energy transfer from an adjacent thin film characterized by strong spin-orbit coupling. Injected triplets migrate through the full thickness of the material before undergoing dissociation at a donor-acceptor interface. By modeling the ratio of injector and acceptor photocurrent as a function of layer thickness, the triplet L_D is extracted separate from processes of unknown efficiency including singlet fission and diffusion. In considering three archetypical fission systems, a wide range is found for the triplet L_D, ranging from 3.3 ± 0.4 nm for 5,12-bis((triisopropylsilyl)ethynyl)tetracene to 17.1 ± 1.3 nm for pentacene and 32.1 ± 2.6 nm for tetracene.

High-Performance van der Waals Junction Field-Effect Transistors Utilizing Organic Molecule/Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Interface

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) hetero PN junctions with a van der Waals (vdW) interface have received much attention, because PN diodes are basically important to control the vertical current across the junction. Interestingly, the same vdW PN junction structure can be utilized for junction field-effect transistors (JFETs) where in-plane current is controlled along the junction. However, 2D vdW JFETs seem rarely reported, despite their own advantages to achieve when good vdW junction is secured. Here, we present high-performance p-MoTe₂ JFETs using almost perfect vdW organic Alq₃/p-MoTe₂ junctions and demonstrate organic NPB/n-MoS₂ JFETs. The p- and n-channel JFETs stably show high mobilities of 60-80 and ∼800 cm²/V s, respectively, along with a high ON/OFF current ratio (>1 × 10⁵) and minimal gate leakage at 5 V even after a few months. Such performances are attributed to a quality vdW junction at organic layer/TMD interfaces.

Emerging Self-Emissive Technologies for Flexible Displays

Featuring a combination of ultrathin and lightweight properties, excellent mechanical flexibility, low power-consumption, and widely tunable saturated emission, flexible displays have opened up a new possibility for optoelectronics. The demands for flexible displays are growing on a continual basis due not only to their successful commercialization but, more importantly, their endless possibilities for wearable integrated systems. Up to now, self-emissive technologies for displays, flexible active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes (flex-AMOLED), flexible quantum dot light-emitting diodes (flex-QLEDs), and flexible perovskite light-emitting diodes (flex-PeLEDs) have been widely reported, but despite the significant progress made in these technologies, enormous obstacles and challenges remain for the vision of truly wearable applications, in particular with flex-QLEDs and flex-PeLEDs. Here, a review of the recent progress of all three self-emissive technologies for flexible displays is conducted, including the emissive active materials, device structures and approaches to manufacturing, the flexible substrates, and conductive electrodes, as well as the encapsulation techniques. The fast-paced improvement made to the efficiency of flexible devices in recent years is also summarized. The review concludes by making suggestions on the future development in this area, and is expected to help researchers in gaining a comprehensive understanding about the newly emerging technologies for flexible displays.

Impact of Organic Molecule-Induced Charge Transfer on Operating Voltage Control of Both n-MoS2 and p-MoTe2 Transistors

Since transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors are found as two-dimensional van der Waals materials with a discrete energy bandgap, many TMD based field effect transistors (FETs) are reported as prototype devices. However, overall reports indicate that threshold voltage ( V_th) of those FETs are located far away from 0 V whether the channel is p- or n-type. This definitely causes high switching voltage and unintended OFF-state leakage current. Here, a facile way to simultaneously modulate the V_th of both p- and n-channel FETs with TMDs is reported. The deposition of various organic small molecules on the channel results in charge transfer between the organic molecule and TMD channels. Especially, HAT-CN molecule is found to ideally work for both p- and n-channels, shifting their V_th toward 0 V concurrently. As a proof of concept, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverter with p-MoTe₂ and n-MoS₂ channels shows superior voltage gain and minimal power consumption after HAT-CN deposition, compared to its initial performance. When the same TMD FETs of the CMOS structure are integrated into an OLED pixel circuit for ambipolar switching, the circuit with HAT-CN film demonstrates complete ON/OFF switching of OLED pixel, which was not switched off without HAT-CN.

Effects of the Thickness of N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-di(m-tolyl)-benzidine on the Electro-Optical Characteristics of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

We examined the electro-optical characteristics of organic light emitting diodes according to the N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-di(m-tolyl)-benzidine (TPD) thicknesses. The thicknesses of TPD were varied from 5 nm to 50 nm. The current density of the device with a TPD thickness of 5 nm was 8.94 times higher than that with a thickness of 50 nm at a driving voltage of 10 V. According to the conduction⁻current characteristics of conductors, the current densities improved with a decreasing TPD thickness. Different from the current density⁻voltage characteristics, the current efficiency⁻current density characteristics showed an improved efficiency with a 50 nm TPD thickness. The current efficiencies of a device with a 5 nm TPD thickness at a driving voltage of 10 V was 0.148 and at a 50 nm TPD thickness 0.993 cd/A, which was 6.7 times higher than the 5 nm TPD thickness. These results indicated that hole transport in Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) devices were more efficient with thin 5 nm TPD than with thick 50 nm TPD, while electron transport was more efficient with thick 50 nm TPD, which caused conflicting results in the current efficiency-current density and current density-voltage characteristics according to TPD thicknesses.