Charge injection and accumulation in organic light-emitting diode with PEDOT:PSS anode

Abstract

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays using flexible substrates have many attractive features. Since transparent conductive oxides do not fit the requirements of flexible devices, conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) has been proposed as an alternative. The charge injection and accumulation in OLED devices with PEDOT:PSS anodes are investigated and compared with indium tin oxide anode devices. Higher current density and electroluminescence light intensity are achieved for the OLED device with a PEDOT:PSS anode. The electric field induced second-harmonic generation technique is used for direct observation of temporal evolution of electric fields. It is clearly demonstrated that the improvement in the device performance of the OLED device with a PEDOT:PSS anode is associated with the smooth charge injection and accumulation.