Transparent Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells

Abstract

Single layer light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) are amongst the simplest electroluminescent devices and operate with air-stable electrodes. Transparent light-emitting devices are of great interest as they can enable new applications in consumer electronics. In this work, a transparent ionic transition metal complex based LEC is fabricated by developing a transparent top contact based on tin (IV) oxide (SnO2) and indium-tin oxide, processed by low-temperature atomic layer deposition and pulsed laser deposition, respectively. The resulting devices present transparency in excess of 75% over the full visible spectrum (380–750 nm), with 82% transmission at the emission peak (563 nm). The devices emit from the front and the rear with high luminance (260 cd m−2) and long lifetime (176 h). These parameters place them among the highest performing single layer transparent electroluminescent devices.