Enhancement of top emission for organic light-emitting diode via scattering surface plasmons by nano-aggregated outcoupling layer

A stable self nano-aggregated bathocuproine film was fabricated and introduced atop of a conventional organic light emitting diode for enhancing top emission. It leads to a 2.7–2.1-fold enhancement on top emission at applied voltage from 4 to 9 V which is much larger than the 1.5–1.3-fold enhancement for a device overlaid with an amorphous bathocuproine film. The more effective outcoupling of this method probably arises from surface plasmon modes being scattered by only the nanostructured surface, and thus without phase cancellation, at the bathocuproine/air boundary. Moreover, this method nearly preserves the original electroluminescent spectra and has no damage on electrical properties.