Material and Interface Engineering for Highly Efficient Polymer Light Emitting Diodes

Abstract

Abstract Polymer light‐emitting diodes (PLEDs) have great potential to compete with LCD displays that are currently used for computer and television screens. The efficiency and stability of PLEDs still need to be improved in order to fully realize the advantages of low cost and ease of fabrication provided by organic materials. Our effort in improving the PLED's performance have been focused on two parallel approaches: 1) Modify the interface between polymer and the charge‐injection electrodes for more efficient device structures; 2) Enhance the efficiency of PLEDs through the development of new conjugated materials with balanced charge‐transporting properties. In this paper, we review our recent progress on the interface engineering between polymer and electrodes to optimize charge‐injection, ‐transport, and ‐recombination in PLEDs, as well as on the material engineering to tune the emission color, electron affinity, and charge mobility. Keywords: polymer light‐emitting diodesinterfacesurfactantshole transportelectroluminescencepolyfluorenetransition metal‐ligand complex Acknowledgment Our work in organic electronics covered by this review has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF‐STC Program under Agreement Number DMR‐0120967) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) under the MURI Center on Polymeric Smart Skins. A.K.‐Y. Jen thanks the Boeing‐Johnson Foundation for its support.