title: DNA bases thymine and adenine in bio-organic light emitting diodes.
abstract: We report on the use of nucleic acid bases (NBs) in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). NBs are small molecules that are the basic building blocks of the larger DNA polymer. NBs readily thermally evaporate and integrate well into the vacuum deposited OLED fabrication. Adenine (A) and thymine (T) were deposited as electron-blocking/hole-transport layers (EBL/HTL) that resulted in increases in performance over the reference OLED containing the standard EBL material NPB. A-based OLEDs reached a peak current efficiency and luminance performance of 48 cd/A and 93,000 cd/m(2), respectively, while T-based OLEDs had a maximum of 76 cd/A and 132,000 cd/m(2). By comparison, the reference OLED yielded 37 cd/A and 113,000 cd/m(2). The enhanced performance of T-based devices is attributed to a combination of energy levels and structured surface morphology that causes more efficient and controlled hole current transport to the emitting layer.
authors.affiliation: Nanoelectronics Laboratory, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0030 USA.
authors.forename: Eliot F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.affiliation: Nanoelectronics Laboratory, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0030 USA.
authors.forename: Vishak
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Venkatraman
authors.affiliation: Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433-7707 USA.
authors.forename: James G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Grote
authors.affiliation: Nanoelectronics Laboratory, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0030 USA.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Steckl
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000737:chemistry*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements / Q000295:instrumentation; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013941:Thymine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000225:Adenine; D013941:Thymine