Patent Application
20090134779
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescence (hereinafter referred to as EL) element emitting light on a luminescence layer by injecting electrons and holes, particularly the organic EL element that includes a hole transport layer provided on the anode side of the luminescence layer and an electron transport layer provided on the cathode side of the luminescence layer with respect of between a pair of electrodes of cathode and anode.
Generally, each organic EL element forming a display panel using organic materials has a configuration where an anode as a transparent electrode, plural organic material layers including a luminescence layer, and a cathode formed of a metal electrode are sequentially laminated as thin films.
Beside the luminescence layer, the organic material layers include a layer such as a hole injection layer and a hole transport layer that are made of materials capable of transporting holes and are provided on the anode side of the luminescence layer, and a layer such as an electron transport layer and an electron injection layer that are made of materials capable of transporting electrons and are provided on a cathode side of the luminescence layer. Organic EL elements having configurations where these layers are combined in various manners have been proposed.
When an electric filed is applied to the organic EL element that has an organic material layer formed of a stacked layer body including the luminescence layer, the electron transport layer, and the electron hole transport layer, electron holes are injected from the anode and electrons are injected from the cathode. The organic EL element uses the luminescence that is emitted when these electrons and electron holes recombine in the luminescence layer, exciton is formed, and it is returned to the ground state. Sometimes the luminescence layer is doped with luminescence pigment as a guest material in order to improve luminescence efficiency and stably drive elements.
Recently, using phosphorescence material for the luminescence layer has been proposed besides fluorescence material. Based on statistics in terms of quantity physiochemistry, in the luminescence layer of the organic EL element the occurrence probability of singlet exciton and triplet exciton after recombination of the electron and the electron hole is considered 1:3. For this reason, based on comparative between fluorescence that emits luminescence by returning direct from the singlet state to the ground state and phosphorescence that emits luminescence by returning from the triplet state to the ground states, employing the phosphorescence is expected more to improve luminescence efficiency. The element employing phosphorescence due to the triplet exciton is expected to achieve luminescence efficiency of four times maximum of the element employing fluorescence due to the singlet exciton. As phosphorescence material, heavy-metalic complex such as platinum and iridium are cited and it is proposed that phosphorescence emission is possible at the room temperature due to heavy element effect.
These organic EL elements are expected as light sources and displays, and practical application is in the process of start at present. These organic EL elements have been variously improved to elongate drive life, increase luminescence, and decrease driving voltage.
For example, Patent Document 1 described below reports on an organic EL element that laminates an anode, a luminescence layer including a phosphorescence iridium complex material, an electron transport layer formed of organic compound, and a cathode to elongate drive life.
However, it is a major problem to elongate drive life of the organic EL element and further longer drive life is desired.
The present invention is made in view of the above-described problem and it is major object to provide an organic EL element having longer drive life.
The invention described in claim 1 is an organic EL element 1 includes, with respect of between a pair of electrodes of anode and cathode, a luminescence layer, a hole transport layer provided on the anode side of the luminescence layer, and an electron transport layer provided on the cathode side of the luminescence layer, and the luminescence layer (film thickness=dM; 5 nm to 3000 nm) contains a luminescence pigment and a host material, a first oxidation potential (ED+) of the luminescence pigment is lower than a first oxidation potential (EH+) of the host material, and a first reduction potential (ED−) of the luminescence pigment is lower than a first reduction potential (EH−) of the host material, and a relation between film thickness (film thickness=dE; 5 nm to 3000 nm) of the electron transport layer and film thickness (film thickness=dH; 5 nm to 3000 nm) of the hole transport layer is dH≦dE.
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Inventors of the present invention consider the organic EL element including a luminescence layer and a hole transport layer provided on the anode side of the luminescence layer, an electron transport layer provided on the cathode side of the luminescence layer, with respect of between a pair of electrodes of cathode and anode, wherein the luminescence layer (film thickness=dM: 5 nm to 300 nm) includes luminescence pigment and host material, a first oxidation potential (ED+) of the luminescence pigment is lower than a first oxidation potential (EH+) of the host material, and a first reduction potential (ED−) of the luminescence pigment is lower than a first reduction potential (EH−) of the host material.
The first oxidation potential (ED+) of the luminescence pigment is lower than the first oxidation potential (EH+) of the host material and the first reduction potential (ED−) of the luminescence pigment is lower than the first reduction potential (EH−) of the host material. Therefore, in the luminescence layer, holes mainly transported by the host material are smoothly captured by the luminescence pigment in the electrically neutral state and the luminescence pigment in the cation state efficiently generates. There occurs condition where electrons transmitted by the host material are supplied. That is, the luminescence pigment does not become in the anion state because the neutral state is not subject to reduction. And the host material is not required to accumulate positive charge on the host molecule unnecessarily and can carry electrons on the empty molecule orbit that is in lower energy level as well. Therefore, deterioration due to reduction of the luminescence pigment and deterioration due to oxidation or reduction of the host material can be prevented.
Thus, as a result of earnest consideration on film thickness of the hole transport layer (HTL) and the electron transport layer (ETL) to prevent deterioration due to oxidation or reduction of the organic luminescence layer and improve drive life of the organic EL element, it is found that drive life of the organic EL element changes depending on the film thickness of the hole transport layer (HTL) and the electron transport layer (ETL).
Further a relation of relative film thickness to this film thickness of the hole transport layer (HTL) and the electron transport layer (ETL) is considered. As a result, with respect to the above-described organic EL element, it is found that drive life can be elongated in the case that a relation between film thickness of electron transport layer (film thickness=dE: 5 nm to 3000 nm) and film thickness of hole transport layer (film thickness=dH; 5 nm to 3000 nm) is dH≦dE.
Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described based on drawings. This exemplary embodiment is only one mode to practice and the present invention is not restricted by this embodiment.
As shown in
In the organic EL element 100 of this exemplary embodiment, the luminescence layer 166 includes a host material and a luminescence pigment, it has a relation where a first oxidation potential (ED+) of the luminescence pigment is lower than a first oxidation potential (EH+) of the host material and a first reduction potential (ED−) of the luminescence pigment is lower than a first reduction potential (EH−) of the host material, and a relation between film thickness (dE) of the electron transport layer 168 and film thickness (dH) of the hole transport layer 164 is dH≦dE.
In this exemplary embodiment, although in the organic material layer 16, the configuration of hole transport layer 164/luminescence layer 166/electron transport layer 168 is exemplified, it is not limited to this embodiment. The organic material layer 16 is available as long as it includes at least hole transport layer 164/luminescence layer 166/electron transport layer 168. For example, an electron injection layer made of alkali metal compounds such as LiF may be formed between the electron transport layer 168 and the cathode 18. Further a hole injection layer made of porphyrin compound such as copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and triarylamine compound may be laminated and formed as a thin film between the anode 14 and the hole transport layer 164. Furthermore, the electron hole injection layer may include electron acceptor and its film thickness (dB) is preferably 5 nm to 3000 nm.
With respect to the electron acceptable compound, it is preferable to have oxidability and capability of accepting an electron from the hole transport compound such as triarylamine compound. Specifically, electron affinity of not less than 4 eV is preferable and electron affinity of not less than 5 eV is more preferable.
Cited as example are onium salt substituted with organic group such as 4-isopropyl-4′-methyldiphenyliodonium Tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate, iron chloride (III) (Japanese unexamined Patent Publication JP-A-11-251067), high-valent inorganic compounds such as ammonium peroxodisulfate, cyano compounds such as tetracyanoethylene, aromatic boron compounds such as tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP-A-2003-31365), fullerene derivative, and iodine.
Among the above-described compounds, onium salt substituted with organic group and high-valent inorganic compound are preferable in terms of high oxidability, and onium salt substituted with organic group, cyano compound, and aromatic boron compound are preferable in terms of applicability to wet coating because they are soluble in variety of solvents.
For the cathode 18, used may be, for example aluminum, magnesium, indium, silver, or alloys thereof that are formed of metals of low work function and have thickness of approximately 10 nm to 500 nm. However, materials are not limited to these and may be appropriately selected.
For the anode 14, used may be indium tin oxide (hereinafter referred to as ITO) and the like that are formed of conductive materials of high work function and have thickness of approximately 10 nm to 500 nm, or gold that has thickness of approximately 10 nm to 150 nm. However, materials are not limited to these and may be appropriately selected. In the case that gold is used as electrode material, an electrode becomes translucent in the thin film. As for the cathode 18 and the anode 14, at least one of those may be transparent or translucent.
The hole transport layer 164 is provided between the anode 14 (the hole injection layer if the hole injection layer is provided) and the luminescence layer 166, it is a layer to accelerate transport of holes, and has a function to appropriately transport holes to the luminescence layer 166. Film thickness dH of the hole transport layer 164 is 5 nm to 3000 nm and a relation with film thickness dE of the electron transport layer 168 is required to set to dH≦dE. Preferably film thickness dH of the hole transport layer 164 and/or film thickness dE of the electron transport layer 168 is 5 nm to 500 nm.
Further, a relation between film thickness dH of the hole transport layer 164 and film thickness dM of the luminescence layer 166 is preferably set to dH≦dM. And the hole transport layer 164 may be formed of plural layers. In this case, a relation between layer number (NH; 1 to 3) of the hole transport layer 164 and layer number (NE; integral number of 1 to 3) of the electron transport layer 168 is preferably set to NH≦NE.
As for material of the hole transport layer 164, the material including triarylamine compound is preferable. The material may be appropriately selected in such manner that ion energy is located between the hole injection layer and luminescence layer. For example, NPB (Chemical formula 1) may be employed.
The luminescence layer 166 is a fluorescence emission layer and/or phosphorescence emission layer that recombine the transported holes and the transported electrons as well. The luminescence layer has film thickness dM of 5 nm to 3000 nm and contains the luminescence pigment and the host material.
The luminescence pigment and the host material may be appropriately selected so as to satisfy the characteristics, as long as the first oxidation potential (ED+) of the luminescence pigment is lower than the first oxidation potential (EH+) and the first reduction potential (ED−) of the luminescence pigment is lower than the first reduction potential (EH−) of the host material. For the luminescence pigment, the organic metal complex represented by the formula (Chemical formula 2) described below is preferable, and for example, Ir(ppy)3 (Chemical formula 3) may be employed.
In the formula, M represents metal and m+n represents valence number of the metal. As for metal, cited are ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum, and gold. m is an integral number of not less than 0 and n is an integral number of not less than 1. L represents monovalent bidentate ligand. Ring a and ring b represent aromatic hydrocarbon group that may have substitutional group.
For the host material, at least one type compound of carbazole compound and pyridine compound is preferably employed. Or both carbazole compound and pyridine compound may be employed. For the host material, a compound that has carbazole group and pyridine ring in the same molecule as shown below in the formula (Chemical formulas 4 to 6) is preferable.
(Z represents direct binding, or voluntary connection group capable of conjugating nitrogen atoms with each other of the carbazole ring.
Q represents direct binding linked to G.
B represents an aromatic heterocyclic ring of six-membered ring having n pieces of N atoms as hetero atom.
n represents an integral number of 1 to 3.
G binds with C atom in the ortho position or para position of N atom of ring B.
G represents direct binding or voluntary connection group to link with Q in the case of linkage with Q.
G represents aromatic hydrocarbon group in the case of no linkage with Q.
m is an integral number of 3 to 5.
Plural pieces of G existing in a molecule may be same or not same.
Ring B may have substitutional group except for G.)
(Z1 and Z2 represent direct binding or voluntary connection group.
Z1, Z2 and ring A may have substitutional group.
Z1 and Z2 may be same or not same.
Q represents direct binding with G.
B is aromatic heterocyclic ring of six-membered ring having n pieces of N atoms as hetero atom.
G binds with C atom in the ortho position or para position of N atom of the ring B.
G represents direct binding with Q or voluntary connection group in the case of linkage with Q.
G represents aromatic hydrocarbon group in the case of no linkage with Q.
m is an integral number of 3 to 5.
Plural pieces of G existing in a molecule may be same or not same.
Ring B may have substitutional group except for G.)
(Z1 and Z2 represent direct binding or voluntary connection group. Z1 and Z2 may be same or not same.
Ring B1 and ring B2 are pyridine rings.
Z1, Z2, ring B1 and ring B2 may have substitutional group.)
Specifically the below-described compounds are cited.
The electron transport layer 168 is provided between the cathode 18 (the electron injection layer in the case that the electron injection layer is provided) and the luminescence layer 166, it is a layer to accelerate transport of electrons, and has a function to appropriately transport electron to the luminescence layer 166. Film thickness dE of the transport layer 168 is 5 nm to 3000 nm and a relation with film thickness dH of the hole transport layer 164 is required to set to dH≦dE. Further the electron transport layer 168 is not limited to a single layer and may be formed of plural layers. In the case of plural layers, the electron transport layer adjacent to the luminescence layer 166 is formed as a first electron transport layer and the first electron transport layer is made of electron transport material of wide-band-gap that has higher first oxidation potential than the other constituent electron transport layers so that confinement of excitons generated in the luminescence layer to the luminescence layer is accelerated to improve efficiency in some cases. A relation between the total number (NE; 1 to 3) of the electron transport layer and the total number (NH; 1 to 3) of the hole transport layer is preferably set to NH≦NE.
In the case that the hole transport layer and/or electron transport layer are formed of plural layers, the film thickness is referred to as that of plural layers in total.
As for material of the electron transport layer 168, materials including organo aluminum complex compound is preferable. For example, Alq3 (Chemical formula 13), BAlq (Chemical formula 14) may be employed but materials are not limited to these.
The first oxidation potential (ED+) of the luminescence pigment, the first oxidation potential (EH+) of the host material, the first reduction potential (ED−) of the luminescence pigment, the first reduction potential (EH−) of the host material, and oxidoreduction potential of materials of the electron transport layer can be obtained by electrochemical measurement.
An electrochemical measurement method is explained. Approximately 0.1 to 2 mM of a subject to be measured is dissolved in the organic solvent that contains approximately 0.1 mol/l of tetrabutylammonium perchlorate, tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate, etc. as supporting electrolyte, and the subject to be measured is oxidized-reduced at a work electrode using a glassy carbon electrode as a work electrode, a platinum electrode as a electrode couple, and a silver electrode as a reference electrode. And the oxidoreduction potential of the subject to be measured is calculated by comparing those potentials with oxidoreduction potential of reference substances such as ferrocene. A cyclic voltammetry method is cited as the electrochemical measurement method.
As an example, Ir(ppy)3, compounds of Chemical formulas 4 to 9, oxidoreduction potential of Alq3 and BAlq that are measured by the above method are listed on Table 1.
Specifically plural samples of organic EL elements are prepared and operation lifetime is evaluated. In the samples, the following materials are sequentially evaporated on ITO (film thickness of 110 nm) anode on respective substrate to produce the organic EL element 200 of the below-described configuration.
The organic layers are laminated as shown in
An element sample 1 is an example of the present invention and an element sample 2 is a comparative example. LiF is further evaporated at film thickness of 1 nm on respective electron transport layer as an electron injection layer, aluminum (Al) of 100 nm film thick is further laminated thereon as cathode to produce the organic EL element.
The above-described element samples are continuously driven at current density of 2.5 mA/cm2 and time for decreasing the luminescence by 20% immediately after the initial measurement is measured. The time for decreasing the luminescence of the element sample 2 (comparative example) by 20% immediately after the initial measurement is represented by 1 and a measurement result is expressed in Table 2 together with film thickness of the hole transport layer/luminescence layer/electron transport layer forming the organic material layer.
Table 2 shows that drive life is improved in the element sample 1 of the example.
In the other example, compound of Chemical formula 8 is used instead of the compound of Chemical formula 7 as the host material of the luminescence layer, and prepared are element samples 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 that are same as the above-described example but film thickness set as in Table 3. Element samples 3, 4, and 5 are examples of the present invention and element samples 6 and 7 are comparative examples.
The above-described element samples are continuously driven at current density of 2.5 mA/cm2, and time for decreasing the luminescence by 20% immediately after the initial measurement is measured. The time for decreasing the luminescence of the element sample 6 (comparative example) by 20% immediately after the initial measurement is represented by 1 and a measurement result is expressed in Table 3 together with film thickness of the hole transport layer/luminescence layer/electron transport layer forming the organic material layer.
The table 3 shows that the drive life is improved in element samples 3, 4, and 5 of the example compared with element samples 6 and 7 of the comparative example.
In the other example, prepared is element sample 8 of the present example that is same as the above-described example but the electron transport layer formed of double layers. BAlq is used for the first electron transport layer adjacent to the luminescence layer 166 and Alq3 is used for the second electron transport layer that is disposed between the first electron transport layer and the electron injection layer.
The above-described element sample is continuously driven at current density of 2.5 mA/cm2 and time for decreasing the luminescence by 20% immediately after the initial measurement is measured. The time for decreasing the luminescence of the element sample 7 (comparative example) by 20% immediately after the initial measurement is represented by 1 and a measurement result is expressed in Table 4 together with film thickness of the hole transport layer/luminescence layer/electron transport layer (the first electron transport layer and the second electron transport layer) forming the organic material layer.
Table 4 shows that drive life of the element sample 8 of the example is improved compared with the element sample 7 of the comparative example.
Further in the other example, used as the electron injection layer is polyether containing aromatic diamine (weight-average molecular weight of 26,900) (film thickness of 30 nm) that is added with 17 weight % of aromatic boron compound salt that is an electron acceptor and represented by Chemical formula 16 instead of copper phthalocyanine. And NPB is used for the hole transport layer, the compound of Chemical formula 9 of host material that is added with 6 wt % of Ir(ppy)3 is used for the luminescence layer as the luminescence pigment, and Alq3 is used for the electron transport layer to prepare element samples 9 and 10 whose film thickness is set as shown in Table 4. The element sample 9 is an example of the present invention and the element sample 10 is a comparative example.
The hole injection layer is formed by spin-coating on ITO anode a coating solution where 2 wt % of the polyether containing aromatic diamine and 0.4 wt % of the electron acceptorare dissolved in ethyl benzoate.
The above-described element samples are continuously driven at current density of 7 mA/cm2 and time for decreasing the luminescence by 20% immediately after the initial measurement is measured. The time for decreasing the luminescence of the element sample 10 (comparative example) by 20% immediately after the initial measurement is represented by 1 and a measurement result is expressed in Table 5 together with film thickness of the hole transport layer/luminescence layer/electron transport layer forming the organic material layer.
Table 5 shows that drive life of the element sample 10 of the example is improved compared with the element sample 9 of the comparative example.
Thus, according to these examples, an organic EL element having long drive life can be obtained.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-150747 | May 2005 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2006/310254 | 5/23/2006 | WO | 00 | 11/23/2007 |
