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Nano Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nanoen
Communication
High-efficiency all-inorganic full-colour quantum dot light-emitting diodes
Xuyong Yang
a,
⁎
, Zi-Hui Zhang
b
, Tao Ding
c
, Ning Wang
c
, Guo Chen
a
, Cuong Dang
c
,
Hilmi Volkan Demir
c
, Xiao Wei Sun
d,
⁎
a
Key Laboratory of Advanced Display and System Applications of Education of Ministry, Shanghai University, 149 Yanchang Road, Shanghai 200072, PR China
b
Institute of Micro-Nano Photoelectron and Electromagnetic Technology Innovation, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology,
5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, PR China
c
Luminous! Center of Excellence for Semiconductor Lighting and Displays, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences,
Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
d
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, 1088 Xue-Yuan Road, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, PR China
ARTICLE INFO
Keywords:
Electroluminescent devices
Quantum dots
Electroluminescence
Light-emitting diodes
Inorganic nanodevices
ABSTRACT
All-inorganic quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) with excellent device stability have attracted sig-
nificant attention for solid state lighting and flat panel display applications. However, the performance for the
present all-inorganic QLEDs is far inferior to that of the well-developed QLEDs with organic charge transport
layers. Our all-inorganic full-colour QLEDs show the maximum brightness and efficiency values of 21,600 cd/m
2
and 6.52%, respectively, which are record-breaking among the existing all-inorganic QLEDs. The outstanding
performance is achieved by an efficient design of device architecture with solution-processed charge transport
layers (CTLs). Meanwhile, the ultrathin double-sided insulating layers are inserted between the quantum dot
emissive layer and their adjacent oxide electron transport layers to better balance charge injection in the device
and reduce the quenching effects for inorganic CTLs on QD emission. This study is the first account for high-
performance, all-inorganic QLEDs insightfully offering detailed investigations into the performance promotion
for inorganic electroluminescent devices.
1. Introduction
Colloidal quantum dot (QD)-based light-emitting diodes (QLEDs)
with advantages in narrow emission linewidth, tunable emission wa-
velength and cost-effectiveness are reaching organic LEDs’ performance
and emerging as a candidate for single material capable of full-colour
light sources [1–8]. Currently, the most developed QLEDs employ or-
ganic semiconductors as the charge transport layers (CTLs). However,
these organic layers are less stable compared with inorganic materials,
especially under high current densities [9–11]. The stability of the
present QLEDs has become a big concern for their practical applications
in lighting and displays [12,13]. Despite their excellent device stability,
the performance of inorganic QLEDs has been significantly lower than
that of QLEDs with organic CTLs. The relatively poor device perfor-
mance is mainly caused by the imbalanced carrier injection resulting
from a large energy barrier between the metal-oxide CTL and the QDs
as well as the strong quenching effect of the surrounding conductive
metal oxide on the QD emission (charging QDs) [14–18].
To achieve high-performance all-inorganic QLEDs, it is therefore ne-
cessary to optimize the charge balance in devices and minimize the
negative influenceofinorganicCTLsonQDs.Thechoiceofcharge
transport materials for inorganic QLEDs is relatively limited compared to
the well-developed organic molecules with excellent charge transport
properties. Due to the better compatibility with QD deposition, solution-
processed metal-oxide thin films with controllable morphologies and in-
terface structures at the nanometer scale have been widely used as CTLs
forQLEDs,whicharemoreefficient than their bulk counterparts [19–24].
Till date, the reported highest efficiency values for all the red, green and
blue (RGB) emitting QLEDs are based on the use of solution-processed ZnO
nanoparticles (NPs) as the electron transport layer (ETL) [1,2,25].Re-
cently, the incorporation of an organic insulating thin layer between QDs
and inorganic ZnO ETL has shown to improve the charge balance in QD
layer, and by avoiding QD charging (ref. [1]), this design holds great
promise for preserving excellent emissive properties of the QDs. This
suggests the great potential that solution-processed multilayer structures
with properly modulating charge injection could be used to improve the
performance of all-inorganic QLEDs.
Here, we demonstrate high-performance all-inorganic QLEDs
through an efficient device structure design where the solution-pro-
cessed metal oxides served as charge transport layers. By inserting
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.02.002
Received 3 January 2018; Received in revised form 1 February 2018; Accepted 1 February 2018
⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: yangxy@shu.edu.cn (X. Yang), sunxw@sustc.edu.cn (X.W. Sun).
Nano Energy 46 (2018) 229–233
Available online 03 February 2018
2211-2855/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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