Issue 9, 2017

Water-free synthesis of ZnO quantum dots for application as an electron injection layer in light-emitting electrochemical cells

Abstract

Large-area light emitters like organic (OLEDs) or quantum dot light-emitting devices (QLEDs) and light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) have gained increasing interest due to their cost-effective fabrication on various even flexible substrates. The implementation of ZnO nanoparticles as an electron injection layer in large-area emitters leads to efficient solution-based devices. However, ZnO support layers are frequently in direct contact with water-sensitive emitter materials, which requires ZnO nanoparticles with minimum water content. A water-free synthesis route (except for the small amount of water formed during the synthesis) of ligand-free ZnO nanoparticles is presented. The spherical ZnO nanoparticles have a diameter of 3.4 nm, possess a high crystallinity, and form stable dispersions in ethanol or 1-hexanol. Their application together with a transition metal complex (iTMC)-LEC as an additional electron injection layer resulted in an increase of the device efficiency from 1.6 to 2.4 lm W−1 as well as the reduction of the run-up time to one fifth, compared to the same system without ZnO nanoparticles.

Graphical abstract: Water-free synthesis of ZnO quantum dots for application as an electron injection layer in light-emitting electrochemical cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Dec 2016
Accepted
31 Jan 2017
First published
31 Jan 2017

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2017,5, 2344-2351

Water-free synthesis of ZnO quantum dots for application as an electron injection layer in light-emitting electrochemical cells

S. Daumann, D. Andrzejewski, M. Di Marcantonio, U. Hagemann, S. Wepfer, F. Vollkommer, G. Bacher, M. Epple and E. Nannen, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2017, 5, 2344 DOI: 10.1039/C6TC05571K

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