Hole Injection Role of p-Type Conjugated Polymer Nanolayers in Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Devices

Abstract

Here, we report the hole injection role of p-type conjugated polymer layer in phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanolayers (thickness = ~1 nm thick), which were subjected to thermal annealing at 140 °C by varying annealing time, were inserted between indium tin oxide (ITO) anodes and hole transport layers (N,N′-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N′-bis(phenyl)-benzidine, NPB). The 1 nm-thick P3HT layers showed very weak absorption in the visible light range of 500~650 nm. The device results disclosed that the presence of P3HT layers were just able to improve the charge injection of OLEDs leading to an enhanced luminance irrespective of thermal annealing condition. The highest luminance and efficiency were achieved for the OLEDs with the P3HT layers annealed at 140 °C for 10 min. Further annealing for 30 min resulted in turn-down of device performances. The emission color was almost unchanged by the presence of P3HT layers even though the color coordinates were marginally fluctuated according to the annealing time. The present result delivers the possibility to use p-type conjugated polymers (i.e., P3HT) as a hole injection layer in OLEDs.