The effect of the interlayer design on the electroluminescence and electrical properties of n-ZnO nanorod/p-type blended polymer hybrid light emitting diodes

Abstract

Hybrid light emitting diodes (LEDs) based on n-ZnO nanorods and blended polymers were fabricated and characterized. The blended polymers consisted of a blue emitting polymer and a charge transport polymer. The effect of the interlayer design on the electrical and electroluminescent characteristics of these hybrid LEDs was investigated. We demonstrated that by adding a calcium (2) acetylacetonate [Ca(acac)(2)] layer between the blended polymer layer and the ZnO nanorods, an increase in device performance was observed. The purpose of the extra layer was to act as a band offset stepping layer (offset divider). Moreover, the effect of the stepper layer thickness for this offset stepping layer was studied. The results indicate that LED performance is greatly affected by the presence and thickness of this band offset stepping layer.