Dispersion stability of amine modified graphene oxides and their utilization in solution processed blue OLED

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) was modified with amine derivatives which contain short (SACA) and long (LACA) alkyl chains. SACAs were n-propylamine, dipropylamine, propanolamine and LACAs were 2-ethylhexylamine, di-hexylamine, dioctylamine, and 1,12-diaminododecane and modified GOs (mGOs) were named as nPRYLA-GO, DPRYLA-GO, PRPOHA-GO, 2EHA-GO, DHA-GO, DOA-GO, and DADOD-GO, respectively. Amine modification resulted in approximately 2-folds of decrement in d-spacing of GO (8.36 angstrom). The C:O ratio, N% and d-spacing values were increased as the alkyl chain length of amine source increased. Except for PRPOHA-GO, all of the mGOs were thermally stable until 100 degrees C. All mGOs were dispersed in dimethylformamide (DMF), ethylene glycol (EG) and isopropyl alcohol (iPA). Regardless of their structural differences, all of the mGOs formed stable dispersions in DMF, whereas SACA-mGOs and LACA-mGOs were compatible with EG and iPA, respectively. DMF, EG and iPA dispersions of DOA-GO, 2EHA-GO, nPRYLA-GO and PRPOHA-GO were doped in Al4083 and prepared composites were utilized as hole transport layer in solution processed blue OLEDs. Ground state energy levels of Al4083:DOA-GO, Al4083:EG, Al4083:PRPOHA-GO, Al4083:2EHA-GO and Al4083:nPRYLA-GO extracted from their X-ray photoelectron spectra were 0.49 eV, 0.67 eV, 0.91 eV, 0.98 eV and 1.00 eV below the work function of ITO, respectively. Among all Al4083:mGOs, the best device performance was obtained with the device that contains Al4083:DOA-GO (in EG), which presented 1.6, 1.7 and 1.5 fold enhancements in current, power and external quantum efficiencies, respectively, compared to those of Al4083:EG based device.