Exciton enhancement and exciplex quenching by plasmonic effect of Aluminum nanoparticle arrays in a blue organic light emitting diode

We report the investigation of plasmonic effect of array of aluminum nanoparticles (Al-NPs) on blue micro-OLED subject to exciplex emission. N,N'-Di(1-naphthyl)-N,N'-diphenyl-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine (NPB) andcarbazol derivative 4,4'-bis(N-carbazolyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (CBP) have been used as the emitting layer (EML) and hole transport layer (HTL), respectively. For the reference µ-OLED without Al-NPs, we observed two emission peaks attributed to CBP emission and exciplex emission formed at the NPB/CBP (EML/HTL) interface. By the incorporation of the Al-NPs array, obtained by e-beam lithography technique on the ITO anode, the exciplex emission has been widely depressed. Moreover, thanks to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), an enhancement of the CBP emission has been achieved indicating an efficient energy coupling between the LSPR of the Al-NPs and the CBP excitons. Thus, an enhancement of about 20% of the efficiency of the µ-OLED with Al-NPs in comparison to the reference device has been obtained.