Accumulated plasmonic effects of gold nanoparticle-decorated PEGylated graphene oxides in organic light-emitting diodes

Abstract

Amphiphilic Au nanoparticle-decorated PEGylated graphene oxides (Au@PEG-GO) are used to construct multiple plasmonic nanostructures for enhancing the performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Because of the long side-chains of the Au@PEG-GO nanocomposites, the nanoparticles can be well dispersed both in organic and aqueous solvents, allowing them to be incorporated readily into the buffer layers, such as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and the organic photoactive layers within OLEDs during the soultion processes. Herein, the Au@PEG-GO nanocomposites are blended into either the PEDOT:PSS or the emissive layer of OLEDs to trigger surface plasmonic effects, thereby improving the device efficiencies. The current efficiencies are improved by ca. 20% for both cases. More importantly, the simultaneous addition of the Au@PEG-GO nanocomposites into both layers leads to even pronounced plasmonic effects. Under the optimized condition, the current efficiency is enhanced by up to 38%, suggesting the plasmonic fields from both layers attributed to the device enhancement. We anticipate that the accumulated plasmonic effects originating from the multiple plasmonic nanostructures will open up new avenues for improving the performance of various solution-processed optoelectronic devices involving organic dyes.