Highly transparent quantum-dot light-emitting diodes with sputtered indium-tin-oxide electrodes

Transparent, all-solution processed quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QD-LEDs) are developed in this work. Indium-tin-oxide (ITO) fabricated by sputtering is adopted as transparent electrodes for the QD-LEDs. To reduce the plasma damage caused by sputtering, ZnO nanocrystals with a thickness of 82 nm are employed as the buffer layer and the electron transport layer. As a result, damage-free QD-LEDs are demonstrated with a high averaged transparency of 70%. The transparent QD-LEDs exhibit an external quantum efficiency of 5% (current efficiency of 7 cd A(-1)), which is comparable to that of the devices with conventional Al electrodes.