Ethoxylated polyethylenimine as an efficient electron injection layer for conventional and inverted polymer light emitting diodes

• ITO/PEIE as efficient electron injection contact for inverted light emitting devices.
• Enhanced luminance efficiency upon addition of a PEIE layer between light emitting polymer and Al.
• Efficient electron injection from ITO/PEIE into several light emitting polymers.

We report inverted light emitting devices using ethoxylated polyethylenimine (PEIE) as a single electron injection layer for indium tin oxide cathode, which possess comparable efficiency to those using ZnO/PEIE double electron injection layers. Implementation of a PEIE layer between light emitting polymer layer and aluminum has been shown to significantly enhance device efficiency as well. Improvement of device efficiency can be attributed to increased electron injection due to the reduced work function of PEIE modified cathode as well as the hole blocking effect of PEIE layer. Furthermore, PEIE serves as an efficient electron injector for a range of light emitting polymers with wide distribution of energy levels.

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