Largely Enhanced Efficiency in ZnO Nanowire/p-Polymer Hybridized Inorganic/Organic Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diode by Piezo-Phototronic Effect

ZnO nanowire inorganic/organic hybrid ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have attracted considerable attention as they not only combine the high flexibility of polymers with the structural and chemical stability of inorganic nanostructures but also have a higher light extraction efficiency than thin film structures. However, up to date, the external quantum efficiency of UV LED based on ZnO nanostructures has been limited by a lack of efficient methods to achieve a balance between electron contributed current and hole contributed current that reduces the nonradiative recombination at interface. Here we demonstrate that the piezo-phototronic effect can largely enhance the efficiency of a hybridized inorganic/organic LED made of a ZnO nanowire/p-polymer structure, by trimming the electron current to match the hole current and increasing the localized hole density near the interface through a carrier channel created by piezoelectric polarization charges on the ZnO side. The external efficiency of the hybrid LED was enhanced by at least a factor of 2 after applying a proper strain, reaching 5.92%. This study offers a new concept for increasing organic LED efficiency and has a great potential for a wide variety of high-performance flexible optoelectronic devices.