Highly Conductive PEDOT: PSS Films with 1,3-Dimethyl-2-Imidazolidinone as Transparent Electrodes for Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

Highly conductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) films as transparent electrodes for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are doped with a new solvent 1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone (DMI) and are optimized using solvent posttreatment. The DMI doped PEDOT: PSS films show significantly enhanced conductivities up to 812.1 S cm(-1). The sheet resistance of the PEDOT: PSS films doped with DMI is further reduced by various solvent post-treatment. The effect of solvent post-treatment on DMI doped PEDOT: PSS films is investigated and is shown to reduce insulating PSS in the conductive films. The solvent posttreated PEDOT: PSS films are successfully employed as transparent electrodes in white OLEDs. It is shown that the efficiency of OLEDs with the optimized DMI doped PEDOT: PSS films is higher than that of reference OLEDs doped with a conventional solvent (ethylene glycol). The results present that the optimized PEDOT: PSS films with the new solvent of DMI can be a promising transparent electrode for low-cost, efficient ITO-free white OLEDs.