Triplet–charge annihilation versus triplet–triplet annihilation in organic semiconductors

Abstract

A triplet can annihilate with a charge or a triplet, generating triplet–charge annihilation (TCA) or triplet–triplet annihilation (TTA) in organic semiconductors. On one hand, the TCA and TTA are critical issues to improve optoelectronic responses by using triplet states. On the other hand, the TCA and TTA are important spin-dependent processes to generate magneto-optoelectronic responses. Our experimental studies find that the TCA is a dominant process over TTA in organic semiconductors. Specifically, we separately confine triplets with charges or with triplets towards the generation of TCA and TTA by adjusting triplet density, charge confinement, and charge/exciton ratio based on organic light-emitting diodes. We then use magnetic field effects of electroluminescence (MFE_EL) as an experimental tool to study the generation of TCA and TTA. We observe that the electroluminescence can show a negative response to an applied magnetic field, generating a negative MFE_EL, when triplets and charges are simultaneously confined within close proximity by using interfacial confinement with unbalanced charge/exciton ratio. In contrast, the electroluminescence only exhibits a positive MFE_EL when triplets are confined within close proximity by using interfacial confinement without unbalanced charge/exciton ratio. Therefore, it can be concluded from our MFE_EL results that the TCA is a dominant process to annihilate triplets over TTA. Clearly, this experimental finding provides a new understanding on controlling triplets-related optoelectronic and magneto-optoelectronic processes in organic semiconductors.