Enhanced electroluminescence of an organic light-emitting diode by localized surface plasmon using Al periodic structure

In this work, we investigate the emission enhancement of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) by increasing the internal quantum efficiency of the organic materials thanks to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). We, particularly, consider periodic arrays of Al nanorods fabricated by e-beam lithography. The intrinsic parameters of the nanoparticles (NPs) are optimized using 3D finite-difference time-domain numerical simulations in order to match the emission wavelength of the Alq3-based OLED (520 nm) with the LSPR of the NPs. The periodic structures were fabricated on top of an indium titanium oxide anode. Our results indicate that the luminance and the current density of the OLED incorporating the Al arrays is drastically increased with an overall luminance increase of 20% compared to the standard OLED without a NP plasmonic layer.