Electron Injection Enhancement by Diamond-Like Carbon Film in Polymer Electroluminescence Devices

A diamond-like carbon （DLC） film is deposited as an electron injection layer between the polymer light-emitting layer（MEH-PPV） and aluminum （Al） cathode electrode in polymer electroluminescence devices （PLEDs） using a radio frequency plasma deposition system. The source material of the DLC is n-butylamine. The devices consist of indium tin oxide （ITO）/MEH-PPV/DLC/Al. Electron injection properties are investigated through I-V characteristics,and the mechanism of electron injection enhancement due to a thin DLC layer has been studied. It is found that： （1） a DLC layer thinner than 1.0nm leads to a higher turn-on voltage and decreased electroluminescent （EL） efficiency; （2） a 5.0nm DLC layer significantly enhances the electron injection and results in the lowest turn-on voltage and the highest EL efficiency; （3） DLC layer that exceeds 5.0nm results in poor device performance;and（4） EL emission can hardly be detected when the layer exceeds 10.0nm. The properties of ITO/MEH-PPV/DLC/Al and ITO/MEH-PPV/LiF/Al are investigated comparatively.

Highly efficient polymer phosphorescent light-emitting devices based on a new polyfluorene derivative as host

Several highly efficient iridium-complex polymer light-emitting devices （PLEDs） are fabricated, with a newly synthesized blue conjugated polymer, poly[（9,9-bis（4-（2-ethylhexyloxy）phenyl）-fluorene）-co-（3,7-dibenziothiene-S,S- dioxide15）] （PPF-3,TSO15）, chosen as host. High luminous efficiencies of 7.4 cd.A-1 and 27.4 cd.A-1 are achieved in red and green PLEDs, respectively, by optimizing the doping concentrations of red phosphorescent dye iridium bis（1- phenylisoquinoline） （acetylacetonate） （Ir（piq）） and green phosphorescent dye iridium tris（2-（4-tolyl）pyridinato-N, C2＇） （Ir（mppy）3）.Furthermore, highly efficient white PLEDs （WPLEDs） with the Commission Internationale de l＇Eclairage （CIE） coordinates of （0.35, 0.38） are successfully produced by carefully controlling the doping concentration of the irid- ium complex. The obtained WPLEDs show maximal efficiencies of 14.4 cd.A-1 and 10.1 lm.W-1, which are comparable to those of incandescent bulbs. Moreover, the electroluminescent spectrum of the white device with an initial luminance of about 1000 cd.m-2 is stable, subject to constant applied current stress, indicating that good device stability can be obtained in this system.

Polymer light-emitting devices using poly(ethylene oxide) as an electron injecting layer

The performance of polymer light emitting devices(PLEDs)based on polyvinyl carbazole(PVK)is improved by introducing a nanoscale interfacial thin layer,made of poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO),between the calcium cathode and the PVK emissive layer.It is believed that the PEO layer plays a key role in enhancing the device performance.In comparison to the device with Ca/Al as the cathode,the performance of the PLED with PEO/Ca/Al cathode,including the driving voltage,luminance efficiency is significantly improved.These improvements are attributed to the introduction of a thin layer of PEO that can lower the interfacial barrier and facilitate electron injection.

The Improvement of Bulk-Heterojunction Order in Polymer Photovoltaic Device

The blend morphology and vertical arrangement are critical to the performance of organic bulk-heterojunction photovoltaic devices.In the present paper,the authors proposed a new annealing method that controls the blend morphology and vertical arrangement of two materials by means of simultaneously applying external electrical field and violet irradiation on the active layer of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and -phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester(PCBM) during annealing process.By using this annealing method,the power conversion efficiency increased by 36%,which was caused by vertical phased-separated blend of crystalline P3HT and PCBM and better charge extraction of electrodes.X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) was measured to prove more fullerene derivatives at the organic/cathode interfaces by using this annealing method.The X-ray diffraction(XRD) analysis and UV-Vis absorption spectrum analysis also revealed more ordered polymer crystallization.

Effect of Poly（Ether Urethane） Introduction on the Performance of Polymer Electrolyte for All-Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The introduction of poly（ether urethane） （PEUR） into polymer electrolyte based on poly（ethylene oxide）, LiI and I2, has significantly increased the ionic conductivity by nearly two orders of magnitudes. An increment of I3- diffusion coefficient is also observed. All-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells are constructed using the polymer electrolytes. It was found that PEUR incorporation has a beneficial effect on the enhancement of open circuit voltage VOC by shifting the band edge of TiO2 to a negative value. Scanningelectron microscope images indicate the perfect interfacial contact between the TiO2 electrode and the blend electrolyte.

Highly efficient pure white polymer light-emitting devices based on poly(N-vinylcarbazole) doped with blue and red phosphorescent dyes

Efficient white-polymer-light-emitting devices (WPLEDs) have been fabricated with a single emitting layer containing a hole-transporting host polymer,poly(N-vinylcarbzole),and an electron-transporting auxiliary,1,3-bis[(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazolyl]-phenylene,codoped with two phosphorescent dyes:Iridium(III)bis (2-(4,6-difluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C2') picolinate (FIrpic) and home-made Ir-G2 for blue and red emission,respectively.With the structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS 4083(40 nm)/emission layer(80 nm)/Ba(4 nm)/Al(120 nm),the device showed a maximal luminous efficiency (LE) of 13.5 cd A-1(corresponding to an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 6.8%),and a peak power efficiency (PE) of 6.5 lm W-1 at 6.0 V.Meanwhile,the device exhibited pure white emission with Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.34,0.35) at a current density of 12 mA cm-2,which is very close to the equi-energy white point with CIE coordinates of (0.33,0.33).The device performance can be further optimized when more balanced hole/electron injection is achieved by incorporating a lower conducting type anode buffer layer (PEDOT:PSS) and incorporating poly[(9,9-bis(3'-(N,N-dimethylamino)propyl)-2,7-fluorenene)-alt-2,7-(9,9-dioctyfluorene)] (PFN) as an electron injection layer at the cathode.The optimized device showed an LE of 24.6 cd A-1 (with an EQE of 14.1%),while the peak power efficiency reached 12.66 lm W-1.Moreover,the WPLEDs showed good electroluminescence (EL) stability over a wide range of operating current density and luminance.

Surface plasmon excitation in semitransparent inverted polymer photovoltaic devices and their applications as label-free optical sensors

Herein,we report on surface plasmon(SP)-sensitive semitransparent inverted polymer photovoltaic(PV)devices that are based on multilayered material systems consisting of poly(3-hexylthiophene):fullerene-derivative bulk-heterojunction PV layers and thin gold or silver anodes.We demonstrate that these PV devices allow the simultaneous generation of both electrical power and SPs on their anodes for photoexcitation just above the optical absorption edge of the PV layers,resulting not only in attenuated total reflection,but also in attenuated photocurrent generation(APG)under the SP resonance(SPR)condition.Moreover,we also confirm that the biomolecular interaction of biotin–streptavidin on the PV devices can be precisely detected via apparent SPR angle shifts in the APG spectra,even without the need for complex attenuated total reflection configurations.We highlight our view that APG measurements made using these PV devices show great potential for the development of future generations of compact and highly sensitive SPR-based optical sensors.

Special Polymer Optical Fibres and Devices for Photonic Applications

Remarkable progresses have been made in developing special polymer optical fibres and devices for photonic applications in recent years. This presentation will mainly report on the development of electro-optic, photosensitive and photorefractive polymer optical fibres and related devices.

Current advances and future perspectives of additive manufacturing for functional polymeric materials and devices

Three-dimensional(3D)printing has received extensive attention due to its unique multidimensional functionality and customizability and has been recognized as one of the most revolutionary manufacturing technologies.Functional 3D printed products represent an important orientation for next-generationmanufacturing and attract a great spotlight for the application in sensors,actuators,robots,electronics,and medical devices.However,the lack of functions of printing polymeric materials dramatically limits the development of functional 3D printing.Different from traditional processing,the physical properties,such as geometry and rheological behavior,of the polymericmaterialsmust match the printing process,making the selection of printable materials limited.More importantly,challenges in large-scale production of such materials further stifle the development of functional 3D printing industry.In this review,we aim to outline recent advances in polymeric materials and methodologies for the functional 3D printing technology.The reports are classified based on functionalities,including electronic conductive,thermally conductive,electromagnetic interference shielding,energy storage,and energy harvesting materials.This study attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities for 3D printing functional polymeric materials/devices,also seeks to enlighten the orientation of future research in this field.

Hierarchical Porous Polymer Beads Prepared by Polymerization-induced Phase Separation and Emulsion-template in a Microfluidic Device

Porous polymer beads（PPBs） containing hierarchical bimodal pore structure with gigapores and meso-macropores were prepared by polymerization-induced phase separation（PIPS） and emulsion-template technique in a glass capillary microfluidic device（GCMD）. Fabrication procedure involved the preparation of water-in-oil emulsion by emulsifying aqueous solution into the monomer solution that contains porogen. The emulsion was added into the GCMD to fabricate the（water-in-oil）-in-water double emulsion droplets. The flow rate of the carrier continuous phase strongly influenced the formation mechanism and size of droplets. Formation mechanism transformed from dripping to jetting and size of droplets decreased from 550 μm to 250 μm with the increase in flow rate of the carrier continuous phase. The prepared droplets were initiated for polymerization by on-line UV-irradiation to form PPBs. The meso-macropores in these beads were generated by PIPS because of the presence of porogen and gigapores obtained from the emulsion-template. The pore morphology and pore size distribution of the PPBs were investigated extensively by scanning electron microscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry（MIP）. New pore morphology was formed at the edge of the beads different from traditional theory because of different osmolarities between the water phase of the emulsion and the carrier continuous phase. The morphology and proportion of bimodal pore structure can be tuned by changing the kind and amount of porogen.

Effect of Dopant Properties on the Microstructures and Electrical Characteristics of Poly（3-Hexylthiophene） Thin Films

Effects of dopant properties on microstructures and the electrical characteristics of poly （3-hexylthiophene） （P3HT） films are studied by doping 0.1 wt% 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane （F4？TCNQ）, 6,6-phenyl-C61butyric acid methyl ester （PCBM） and N,N＇？Diphenyl-N,N＇-（m-tolyl）-benzidine （TPD） into P3HT, respectively. The introductions of various dopants in small quantities increase the field-effect mobility and the I on/Ioff ratio of P3HT thin-film transistors. However, each of dopants shows various effects on the crystalline order and the molecular orientation of P3HT films and the performance of P3HT thin-film transistors. These can be attributed to the various size, shape and energy-level properties of the dopants.

Inverted Bottom-Emission Organic Light Emitting Diode Using Two n-Doped Layers for the Enhanced Performance

We fabricate an inverted bottom-emission organic light emitting diode （IBOLED） employing two n-doped layers, i.e., 5 nm lithium carbonate doped PTCDA （1：2 Li2CO3：PTCDA） with 5 nm Li2CO3 doped BCP （1：4 Li2CO3：BCP） on top, where PTCDA and BCP stand for 3, 4, 9, 10 perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride and bathcuporine, respectively. Compared to the IBOED using a layer of 10 nm 1：4 Li2CO3：BCP, the one utilizing the two-layer combination of 5 nm 1：2 Li2CO3：PTCDA and 5 nm 1：4 Li2CO3：BCP shows decreasing operation voltage and thereby increasing power efficiency, mainly attributed to the higher electron conductivity of 1：2 Li2CO3：PTCDA than that of 1：4 Li2CO3：BCP. The mechanism of the electron transport through the interface of 1：2 Li2CO3：PTCDA and 1：4 Li2CO3：BCP is also discussed. We provide a simply and effective structure to enhance the current conduction for IBOLEDs.

High-efficiency saturated red emission from binuclear cyclo-metalated platinum complex containing 5-(4-octyloxyphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiol ancillary ligand in PLEDs

A novel red-emitting binuclear platinum complex （dfppy）zPtz（C^OXT）z was synthesized and characterized, in which dfppy represents 2-（4＇,6＇-difluorophenyl）pyridinato unit and CsOXT is abbreviated for 5-（4-octyloxyphenyl）-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiol as a bridging ancillary ligand. Its photophysical, electrochemical and electroluminescent characteristics were primarily studied. The made single-emissive-layer （SEL） polymer light-emitting devices using （dfppy）2Ptz（CsOXT）2 as emitter exhibited a satu- rated red emission peaked at 620 nm. The best device performances were obtained in the device at 8 wt% dopant concentration, with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 8.4%, a current efficiency of 4.2 cd/A and brightness of 3228 cd/m~. This work provides an effective approach to obtain high-efficiency red emission through construction of new binuclear platinum complex and its doped SEL devices.