Surface plasmon-enhanced quantum dot light-emitting diodes by incorporating gold nanoparticles

Surface plasmon-enhanced electroluminescence (EL) has been demonstrated by incorporating gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) in quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED). Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) spectroscopy reveals that the EL enhancement is ascribed to the near-field enhancement through an effective coupling between excitons of the quantum dot emitters and localized surface plasmons around Au NPs. It is found that the size of Au NPs and the distance between the Au NPs and the emissive layer have significant effects on the performance of QLED. The enhancement can be maximized as the SP resonance wavelength of Au NPs matches well with the PL emission wavelength of the QD film and the distance between Au NPs and the emissive layer maintains 15 nm. The photoluminance (PL) and EL intensity can be enhanced by 4.4 and 1.7 folds with the incorporation of Au NPs. The maximum current efficiency of 4.56 cd/A can be achieved for the resulting QLEDs by incorprating Au NPs with an enhancement factor of 2.0. In addition, the enhancement ratio of 2.2 can be achieved for the lifetime of resulting QLED.