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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Production and Characterization of Vacuum Deposited Organic Light Emitting Diodes
Published on: November 16, 2018
Long-range coupling of electron-hole pairs in spatially separated organic donor-acceptor layers
Hajime Nakanotani1, Taro Furukawa2, Kei Morimoto2
1Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (OPERA), Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.; JST, ERATO, Adachi Molecular Exciton Engineering Project, c/o Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (OPERA), Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.; International Institute for Carbon Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER), Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.
Abstract:
Understanding exciton behavior in organic semiconductor molecules is crucial for the development of organic semiconductor-based excitonic devices such as organic light-emitting diodes and organic solar cells, and the tightly bound electron-hole pair forming an exciton is normally assumed to be localized on an organic semiconducting molecule. We report the observation of long-range coupling of electron-hole pairs in spatially separated electron-donating and electron-accepting molecules across a 10-nanometers-thick spacer layer. We found that the exciton energy can be tuned over 100 megaelectron volts and the fraction of delayed fluorescence can be increased by adjusting the spacer-layer thickness. Furthermore, increasing the spacer-layer thickness produced an organic light-emitting diode with an electroluminescence efficiency nearly eight times higher than that of a device without a spacer layer. Our results demonstrate the first example of a long-range coupled charge-transfer state between electron-donating and electron-accepting molecules in a working device.
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