Oxygen Plasma Treatment of Rear Multilayered Graphene: A Potential Top Electrode for Transparent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

Abstract

One of the core technologies of transparent organic light-emitting diodes (TOLEDs) is to develop an optically transparent and high electrical conductivity electrode so that light generated inside the device can efficiently escape into the air through the electrodes. We recently reported in TOLED research that two flipping processes are required to dry-transfer the front multilayered graphene (MLG) to the top electrode, while the rear MLG requires one dry transfer process. As the transfer process increases, the electrical properties of graphene deteriorate due to physical damage and contamination by impurities. At the charge-injecting layer/MLG interface constituting the TOLED, the rear MLG electrode has significantly lower charge injection characteristics than the front MLG electrode, so it is very important to improve the electrical characteristics of the rear MLG. In this paper, we report that the light-emitting properties of the TOLED are improved when an oxygen plasma-treated rear MLG is used as the top electrode, as compared with untreated rear MLG. In addition, the fabricated device exhibits a transmittance of 74–75% at the maximum electroluminescence wavelength, and the uniformity of transmittance and reflectance is more constant at a wavelength of 400–700 nm than in a device with a metal electrode. Finally, near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopic analysis proves that the MLG crystallinity is improved with the removal of impurities on the surface after oxygen plasma treatment.