High-Efficiency and Stable Colloidal One-Dimensional Core/Shell Nanorod Light-Emitting Diodes

Anisotropic nanocrystals such as nanorods (NRs) display unique linearly polarized emission, which is expected to break the external quantum efficiency (EQE) limit of quantum dot-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). However, the progress in achieving a higher EQE using NRs encounters several challenges, primarily involving a low photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of NRs and imbalanced charge injection in NR-LEDs. In this work, we investigated NR-LEDs based on CdSe/CdZnS/ZnS rod-in-rod NRs with a high PLQY and higher linear polarization compared to those of dot-in-rod NRs. The balanced charge injection is achieved using ZnMgO nanoparticles as the electron transport layer and poly-TPD {poly[N,N′-bis(4-butylphenyl)-N,N′-bis(phenyl)benzidine]} as the hole transport layer. Therefore, the NR-LEDs exhibit a maximum EQE of 21.5% and a maximum luminance of >120 000 cd/m² owing to the high level of in-plane transitions with a dipole moment of 90%. The NR-LEDs also have greatly inhibited droop in EQE under a high current density as well as outstanding operation lifetime and cycle stability.