ITO-Ag NW based Transparent Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diode

A transparent quantum dot (QD)-based light-emitting diode (LED) with silver nanowire (Ag NW) and indium-tin oxide (ITO) hybrid electrode is demonstrated. The device consists of an Ag NW-ITO hybrid cathode (-), zinc oxide, poly (9-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), CdSe/CdZnS QD, tungsten trioxide, and ITO anode (+). The device shows pure green-color emission peaking at 548 nm, with a narrow spectral half width of 43 nm. Devices with hybrid cathodes show better performances, including higher luminance with higher current density, and lower threshold voltage of 5 V, compared with the reference device with a pure Ag NW cathode. It is worth noting that our transparent device with hybrid cathode exhibits a lifetime 9,300 seconds longer than that of a device with Ag NW cathode. This is the reason that the ITO overlayer can protect against oxidization of Ag NW, and the Ag NW underlayer can reduce the junction resistance and spread the current efficiently. The hybrid cathode for our transparent QD LED can applicable to other quantum structure-based optical devices.