Synthetic
Metals
172 (2013) 63–
68
Contents
lists
available
at
SciVerse
ScienceDirect
Synthetic
Metals
journal
h
om
epage:
www.elsevier.com/locate/synmet
Efficient
and
color-stable
white
organic
light-emitting
diodes
based
on
exciton
management
and
phosphorescent
sensitization
Ling-Chuan
Meng
a
,
Yan-Bing
Hou
a,∗
,
Zhi-Dong
Lou
a
,
Feng
Teng
a
,
Xing
Yao
a
,
Xiao-Jun
Liu
a
,
Ai-Wei
Tang
a
,
Jun-Biao
Peng
b
a
Key
Laboratory
of
Luminescence
and
Optical
Information,
Ministry
of
Education;
Institute
of
Optoelectronic
Technology,
Beijing
Jiaotong
University,
Beijing
100044,
PR
China
b
Key
Laboratory
of
Special
Functional
Materials,
South
China
University
of
Technology,
Guangzhou
510640,
PR
China
a
r
t
i
c
l
e
i
n
f
o
Article
history:
Received
25
October
2012
Received
in
revised
form
1
February
2013
Accepted
30
March
2013
Available online 7 May 2013
Keywords:
WOLEDs
Exciton
management
Phosphorescent
sensitization
a
b
s
t
r
a
c
t
We
report
efficient
and
color-stable
white
organic
light-emitting
diodes
(WOLEDs)
by
an
approach
combining
the
concepts
of
exciton
management
and
phosphorescent
sensitization
to
achieve
100%
internal
quantum
efficiency
and
reduce
efficiency
roll-off.
The
approach
employs
a
layer
of
4-bis-(1-
naphthyl-N-phenylamino)-biphenyl
(NPB)
as
a
fluorescent
blue
emitter
to
collect
all
singlet
excitons
for
blue
emission,
and
fac-tris(2-phenylpyridine)
iridium(III)
(Ir(ppy)
3
)
as
a
phosphorescent
emitter
and
sensitizer
in
other
layer
to
harvest
all
triplet
excitons
for
generating
green
light
and
sensitiz-
ing
a
fluorescent
dye
4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4Hpyran
(DCJTB)
for
orange–red
emission.
By
carefully
adjusting
the
concentration
of
DCJTB
and
the
thickness
of
the
NPB
layer,
efficiency
roll-off
has
been
reduced
and
efficient
balanced
white
light
has
been
pro-
duced
from
the
device
ITO/PEDOT:PSS
(30
nm)/poly(vinylcarbazole)
(PVK):Ir(ppy)
3
:DCJTB
(100:5:0.4
in
wt.)
(60
nm)/NPB
(4
nm)/2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline
(BCP)
(10
nm)/tris(8-
hydroxyquinoline)aluminum
(Alq
3
)
(20
nm)/LiF
(1
nm)/Al.
The
operating
principles
have
been
studied
and
the
results
show
that
the
long
diffusion
length
of
triplet
excitons
and
long-range
nonradiative
energy
transfer
between
the
triplets
of
the
phosphorescent
emitter
and
the
singlets
of
the
fluorescent
dye
are
crucial
to
realize
white
light
emission.
© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1.
Introduction
Organic
light-emitting
diodes
(OLEDs),
first
reported
by
Tang
and
VanSlyke
in
1987
[1],
have
attracted
much
attention
due
to
the
advantages
of
wide
visual
spectral
range,
high
efficiency,
manufac-
turing
feasibility,
and
potential
fabrication
on
flexible
substrates.
A
number
of
organic
semiconductors,
including
small
molecules,
oligomers,
and
polymers
have
been
employed
in
OLEDs
and
dif-
ferent
colors
throughout
the
visible
spectrum
have
been
achieved.
Several
of
metal
containing
polymers
were
developed
for
applica-
tion
in
polymer
light
emitting
device
(PLED)
and
organice
photo
voltaic
(OPV)
[2].
Transition-metal-based
phosphorescent
mate-
rials
have
recently
been
under
great
development.
The
design
of
multi-component
small-molecular
metallophosphors,
metal-
lodendrimers
and
metallopolymers
with
specific
functional
to
achieve
highly
efficient
and
simple
electrophosphorescent
devices
structure
have
been
an
interesting
focus
[3].
The
synthesis
strat-
egy
for
multifunctional
organometallic
phosphors
which
integrate
∗
Corresponding
author.
Tel.:
+86
10
5168
4860;
fax:
+86
10
5168
3933.
E-mail
addresses:
ybhou@bjtu.edu.cn,
ybhoubjtu@gmail.com
(Y.-B.
Hou).
luminescence
and
charge
injection/transport
functions
into
the
same
molecule
attracted
much
attention.
Recent
research
effort
on
accomplishing
a
new
triplet
emitters
with
enhanced
charge
injection/transport
could
provide
a
new
route
for
further
research
development
in
this
field
[4].
In
particular,
white
OLEDs
(WOLEDs)
have
been
under
intensive
investigation
in
recent
years
owing
to
their
potential
applications
in
full
color
displays,
backlighting
of
liquid-crystal
displays,
and
solid-state
lighting
[5].
There
are
a
number
of
ways
to
realize
WOLEDs
which
required
emission
over
full
visible
spectrum.
Multilayer
structure
device
is
one
approach,
where
each
layer
emits
a
specific
color
so
that
the
output
was
per-
ceived
as
white
emission
[6–8].
The
polymer
device,
where
the
emitting
layer
consists
of
blend
of
materials,
was
another
way
[9–12].
And
the
copolymer
where
green
and
red
color
dye
was
integrated
into
a
blue
backbone
gradually
have
attracted
more
and
more
intention
due
to
simplified
fabrication
process
for
device
[13–16].
Although
substantial
improvements
in
materials
and
device
structures
have
enabled
a
tremendous
advance
in
device
perfor-
mance,
luminous
efficiency
remains
a
challenge
to
the
commercial-
ization
of
WOLEDs
[17–19].
Organic
electroluminescent
materials
exhibit
either
fluorescence
from
spin
anti-symmetric
excitons
0379-6779/$
–
see
front
matter ©
2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.synthmet.2013.03.022