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Efficient energy transfer in organic light-emitting transistor with tunable wavelength

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Abstract

Key challenges in the development of organic light-emitting transistors (OLETs) are blocking both scientific research and practical applications of these devices, e.g., the absence of high-mobility emissive organic semiconductor materials, low device efficiency, and color tunability. Here, we report a novel device configuration called the energy transfer organic light-emitting transistor (ET-OLET) that is intended to overcome these challenges. An organic fluorescent dye-doped polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) layer is inserted below the conventional high-mobility organic semiconductor layer in a single-component OLET to separate the functions of the charge transport and light-emitting layers, thus making the challenge to essentially integrate the high mobility and emissive functions within a single organic semiconductor in a conventional OLET or multilayer OLET unnecessary. In this architecture, there is little change in mobility, but the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the ET-OLET is more than six times that of the conventional OLET because of the efficient Förster resonance energy transfer, which avoids exciton-charge annihilation. In addition, the emission color can be tuned from blue to white to green-yellow using the source-drain and gate voltages. The proposed structure is promising for use with electrically pumped organic lasers.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51602200, 61874074, 51633006, 51703160, 91433115, 21473222, and 21661132006), the Key Project of the Department of Education of Guangdong Province (No. 2016KZDXM008), the Shenzhen Peacock Plan (No. KQTD2016053112042971), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronics Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Ke Zhou, Jian Tang, Shaofan Fang, Ke Jiang, Jing Xiang, Cheng Han & Yumeng Shi

  2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Fangxu Yang, Deyang Ji, Xiaotao Zhang & Wenping Hu

  3. Hoffman Institute of Advanced Materials, Shenzhen Polytechnic, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Jing Xiang & Hanlin Hu

  4. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Jie Liu & Huanli Dong

  5. Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Binhai New City, Fuzhou, 350207, China

    Wenping Hu

Authors
  1. Ke Zhou
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  2. Jian Tang
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  9. Huanli Dong
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  10. Cheng Han
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  11. Hanlin Hu
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  13. Wenping Hu
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  14. Yumeng Shi
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Correspondence to Huanli Dong, Wenping Hu or Yumeng Shi.

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Zhou, K., Tang, J., Fang, S. et al. Efficient energy transfer in organic light-emitting transistor with tunable wavelength. Nano Res. 15, 3647–3652 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3959-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3959-x

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