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Thermal assisted up-conversion electroluminescence in quantum dot light emitting diodes

Qiang Su, Shu-Ming Chen

Nature Communications, 2022

82 citations

Abstract

Up-conversion electroluminescence, in which the energy of a emitted photon is higher than that of the excitation electron, is observed in quantum-dot light-emitting diodes. Here, we study its mechanism by investigating the effect of thermal energy on the charge injection dynamic. Based on the results of temperature-dependent electroluminescence and theoretical analysis, we reveal that at sub-bandgap voltage, holes can be successfully injected into quantum-dots via thermal-assisted thermionic-emission mechanism, thereby enabling the sub-bandgap turn-on and up-conversion electroluminescence of the devices. Further theoretical deduction and experimental results confirm that thermal-assisted hole-injection is the universal mechanism responsible for the up-conversion electroluminescence. This work uncovers the charge injection process and unlocks the sub-bandgap turn-on mechanism, which paves the road for the development of up-conversion devices with power conversion efficiency over 100%. How holes are injected into quantum dots at sub-bandgap bias has puzzled researchers for years. Here, authors show, using temperature-dependent electroluminescence (EL) and theoretical analysis, such injection occurs via thermal-assisted thermionic-emission, consequently enabling the sub-bandgap turn-on and up-conversion EL.

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