How can the nanostructure affect the charge transport in PLED?

Department of Physics, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

Corresponding author: marta@fisica.uminho.pt

Received: 20 October 2008
Revised: 7 January 2009
Accepted: 9 January 2009
Published online: 5 March 2009

Abstract

In polymer light emitting diodes (PLEDs) each semiconducting polymer chain consists of a large number of conjugated segments linked by kinks or twists and each one of them behaves like a separated straight strand. The length and orientation of the conjugated strands relative to the electrodes surface depend on the deposition conditions used. Atomistic results have shown that the molecular properties of the conjugated strands depend on their length, which can affect the electronic processes involved in PLEDs. The aim of this work is to study the influence of the average conjugation length within the polymer layer on charge injection, trapping and recombination in PLEDs for all polymer strand orientations relative to the electrodes surface obtained experimentally by different techniques. For that purpose we use a mesoscopic model that considers the morphology and the molecular properties of the polymer. Our results show that by increasing the average conjugation length of the active polymer layer the amount of charge injected into the device increases and the recombination probability occurs preferentially in segments longer than the average conjugation length, both effects having implications on the performance of polymer LEDs.