Electron transport and electroluminescent efficiency of conjugated polymers

The relation between charge balance and electroluminescent efficiency for polymers is studied systematically in this work. Light-emitting diodes of several kinds of polymers with very different efficiency are compared. The electron and hole currents are measured in the uni-polar devices and fitted by the theoretical model to get carrier mobilities. The universal features of the high efficiency polymers are that the electron and hole mobilities are comparable and the electron current is larger than the hole current due to the higher hole barriers. The electron current is more crucial than hole current to determine the efficiency in the bipolar light-emitting diode. The purity of polymers and low electron injection barriers both play significant roles in producing stronger electron currents. These results give the physical rules for designing new polymers and the device structures to achieve highly electroluminescent devices. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.