Efficient sodium chlorate/calcium/aluminum cathode for polymer light-emitting diodes

A cathode system comprising an ultra thin sodium chlorate (NaCl) layer and an overlaid calcium (Ca) metal in polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) based on poly[2-methoxy,5-(2-ethylhexoxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] is presented. It is demonstrated that introducing a thin NaCl layer further improves the brightness and electroluminescent efficiency of PLEDs. The maximum brightness and efficiency, respectively, reached 22 000 cd/m2 and 3.5 lm/W for PLEDs with a 1 nm NaCl layer, which are much higher than 18 500 cd/m2 and 2.0 lm/W for PLEDs with Ca cathode. The investigation of the electron injection in electron-only devices with and without a NaCl layer indicates that the introduction of the NaCl layer substantially enhances the electron injection current, which in case of PLEDs leads to the improvement of the brightness and efficiency.