High-Performance Organic Light-Emitting Diode with Substitutionally Boron-Doped Graphene Anode

The hole-injection barrier between the anode and the hole-injection layer (HIL) is of critical importance to determine the device performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Here, we report on a record-high external quantum efficiency (EQE) (24.6% in green phosphorescence) of OLEDs fabricated on both rigid and flexible substrates, with the performance enhanced by the use of nearly defect-free and high-mobility boron-doped graphene as an effective anode and hexaazatriphenylene hexacarbonitrile as a new type of HIL. This new structure outperforms the existing graphene-based OLEDs, in which MoO₃, AuCl₃, or bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide are typically used as a doping source for the p-type graphene. The improvement of the OLED performance is attributed mainly to the appreciable increase of the hole conductivity in the nearly defect-free boron-doped monolayer graphene, along with the high work function achieved by the use of a newly developed hydrocarbon precursor containing boron in the graphene growth by chemical vapor deposition.