Versatile surface plasmon resonance of carbon-dot-supported silver nanoparticles in polymer optoelectronic devices

The coupling of surface plasmons and excitons in organic materials can improve the performance of organic optoelectronic devices. Here, we prepare carbon-dot-supported silver nanoparticles (CD-Ag nanoparticles) using the carbon dots both as a reducing agent and a template to fabricate solution-processable polymer light-emitting diodes and polymer solar cells. The surface plasmon resonance effect of CD-Ag nanoparticles allows significant radiative emission and additional light absorption, leading to remarkably enhanced current efficiency of 27.16 cd A(-1) and a luminous efficiency of 18.54 lm W-1 in polymer light-emitting diodes as well as a power conversion efficiency of 8.31% and an internal quantum efficiency of 99% in polymer solar cells compared with control devices (current efficiency = 11.65 cd A(-1) and luminous efficiency = 6.33 lm W-1 in polymer light-emitting diodes; power conversion efficiency = 7.53% and internal quantum efficiency = 91% in polymer solar cells). These results demonstrate that CD-Ag nanoparticles constitute a versatile and effective route for achieving high-performance polymer optoelectronic devices.