Photoluminescence quenching of organic thin films by transparent conductive oxides

One fundamental challenge in designing organic light-emitting diodes is luminescence quenching near an electrode. In this work, we investigate the underlying mechanism behind luminescence quenching by measuring the reduction in Alq3 photoluminescence due to SnO02. Using an analytical model and a Monte Carlo simulation for exciton dynamics in amorphous organic solids, we find that the exciton diffusion length in bulk Alq3 is in the range of 70--80 A. We also find that for SnO2 films deposited without oxygen in the sputtering ambient, resonant energy transfer from Alq3 to SnO2 is the dominant quenching mechanism. By varying the oxygen content in the Ar/C)2 sputtering gas mixture, we find that the energy transfer distance decreases from 10--25 A for 0% 02 to less than 2 A for 10% 02. Our experimental results suggest that because excess oxygen reduces oxygen vacancies and defect electronic states in SnO2, it leads to a smaller spectral overlap between the emission of Alq3 and the absorption of SnO2, thereby shortening the energy transfer distance and reducing the quenching capability of SnO2.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Mei, Jun, S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Vladimir Bulović.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35059

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/35059