Synthesis of Atomically Thin Transition Metal Disulfides for Charge Transport Layers in Optoelectronic Devices

Metal sulfides (MeS2) such as MoS2 and WS2 were used as charge transport layers in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells in-order to enhance the stability in air comparing to poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). MeS2 layers with a polycrystalline structure were synthesized by a chemical deposition method using uniformly spin-coated (NH4)MoS4,and (NH4)WS4 precursor solutions. The ultraviolet-ozone (UV-O-3) treatment on MeS2 leads to the removal of the surface contaminants produced by the transfer process, resulting in a uniform surface and an increase of the work function. The maximum luminance efficiencies of the OLEDs with UV-O-3-treated MoS2 and WS2 were 9.44 and 10.82 cd/A, respectively. The power conversion efficiencies of OPV cells based on UV-O-3-treated MoS2 and WS2 were 2.96 and 3.08%, respectively. These values correspond to-over 95% of those obtained with (PEDOT:PSS) based devices. Furthermore, OLEDs and OPV cells based on MeS2 showed two to six times longer stability in air compared with PEDOT:PSS based devices. These results suggest that UV-O-3-surface-treated MeS2 could be a promising candidate for a charge transport layer in optoelectronic devices.