Control of color and efficiency of light-emitting diodes based on polyfluorenes blended with hole-transporting molecules

Adding low-molecular-weight hole-transporting molecules (HTM) with different oxidation potentials to the polyfluorene emission layer of single-layer light-emitting diodes causes significant changes in the device properties. The pronounced increase in luminance efficiency combined with a decrease in current is attributed to significant hole trapping, as further suggested by thermoluminescence experiments. Using a oligo-triphenylamine HTM with an ionization potential of ∼4.9 eV, light-emitting diodes with stable blue emission, a brightness of 800 cd/m2 and an efficiency of 0.87 cd/A were realized. Further, the red-emitting contribution to the spectra as observed in the pure polymer devices could be fully suppressed.