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Biomedical subjects

Vladimir Bulović

Publications and source records attributed to Vladimir Bulović.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Charge carrier energy disorder in polar amorphous organic thin films.

We report Monte Carlo calculations of the charge carrier energy level disorder in polar amorphous organic solids arising from electrostatic interactions between polarizable molecular charge distributions. In contrast with previous reports in which the discrete molecular polarizibilities are modeled as a dielectric continuum having dielectric constant epsilon, our calculations take account of the molecular-scale polarization inhomogeneity. We find that the previously reported 1/epsilon scaling rule underestimates the charge carrier energy level disorder by more than a factor of 2 for typical values of epsilon. Such an underestimation strongly impacts the analysis of charge carrier transport in polar amorphous organic thin films, due to the strong dependence of the charge carrier mobility on the energy disorder.

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Modeling of exciton diffusion in amorphous organic thin films.

Time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy of amorphous organic thin films of aluminum tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) show emission spectra that redshift with time following excitation by ultrafast laser pulses. Based on reports of similar phenomena in other materials, we attribute this effect to the exciton diffusion between energetically dissimilar molecules by means of Förster transfer. In analyzing results at 295, 180, 75, and 35 K, we show that existing theoretical treatments of exciton diffusion require two modifications to self-consistently fit our data: one must include spatial disorder in the model, and the energy dependence of Förster transfer must be calculated using the donor-acceptor spectral overlap, instead of a Boltzman distribution. Monte Carlo simulations utilizing these changes yield results that are self-consistent with the observed spectral shifts.

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NiO as an inorganic hole-transporting layer in quantum-dot light-emitting devices.

We demonstrate a hybrid inorganic/organic light-emitting device composed of a CdSe/ZnS core/shell semiconductor quantum-dot emissive layer sandwiched between p-type NiO and tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3), as hole and electron transporting layers, respectively. A maximum external electroluminescence quantum efficiency of 0.18% is achieved by tuning the resistivity of the NiO layer to balance the electron and hole densities at quantum-dot sites.

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Strong coupling in a microcavity LED.

Thin films of polyelectrolyte/J aggregate dye bilayers with high absorption coefficient (6 nm thick with alpha approximately equal to 1.0 x 10(6) cm(-1)) inserted in an optical microcavity enable the cavity quantum electrodynamic strong coupling limit to be reached at room temperature with a coupling strength (Rabi splitting) of 265 +/- 15 meV. By embedding these films in a resonant cavity organic LED structure, we demonstrate the first emissive electrically pumped exciton-polariton device.

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Sensitivity gains in chemosensing by lasing action in organic polymers.

Societal needs for greater security require dramatic improvements in the sensitivity of chemical and biological sensors. To meet this challenge, increasing emphasis in analytical science has been directed towards materials and devices having highly nonlinear characteristics; semiconducting organic polymers (SOPs), with their facile excited state (exciton) transport, are prime examples of amplifying materials. SOPs have also been recognized as promising lasing materials, although the susceptibility of these materials to optical damage has thus far limited applications. Here we report that attenuated lasing in optically pumped SOP thin films displays a sensitivity to vapours of explosives more than 30 times higher than is observed from spontaneous emission. Critical to this achievement was the development of a transducing polymer with high thin-film quantum yield, a high optical damage threshold in ambient atmosphere and a record low lasing threshold. Trace vapours of the explosives 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) introduce non-radiative deactivation pathways that compete with stimulated emission. We demonstrate that the induced cessation of the lasing action, and associated sensitivity enhancement, is most pronounced when films are pumped at intensities near their lasing threshold. The combined gains from amplifying materials and lasing promise to deliver sensors that can detect explosives with unparalleled sensitivity.

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Blue electroluminescence from oxadiazole grafted poly(phenylene-ethynylene)s.

Blue poly(phenylene-ethynylene) (PPE) electroluminescence is achieved in a single layer organic light emitting device. The polymeric system consists of an oxadiazole grafted PPE, which combines the necessary charge transport properties while maintaining the desirable efficient, narrow light-emitting properties of the PPE. Incorporation of a pentiptycene scaffold within the PPE structure prevents ground-state and excited-state interactions between the pendent oxadiazole units and the conjugated backbone.

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Solid state solvation in amorphous organic thin films.

The photoluminescence (PL) of the red laser dye DCM2, doped into blended thin films of polystyrene (PS) and the polar small molecule camphoric anhydride (CA), redshifts as the CA concentration increases. The DCM2 PL peaks at 2.20 eV (lambda=563 nm) for pure PS films and shifts to 2.05 eV (lambda=605 nm) for films with 24.5% CA (by mass). The capacitively measured electronic permittivity also increases from epsilon=2.4 to epsilon=5.6 with CA concentration. These results are consistent with the theory of solvatochromism developed for organic molecules in liquid solvents. To our knowledge, this work is the first application of a quantitative theory of solvation to organic molecules in amorphous thin films with continuously controllable permittivity, and demonstrates that "solid state solvation" can be used to predictably tune exciton energies in organic thin film structures.

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Electroluminescence from single monolayers of nanocrystals in molecular organic devices.

The integration of organic and inorganic materials at the nanometre scale into hybrid optoelectronic structures enables active devices that combine the diversity of organic materials with the high-performance electronic and optical properties of inorganic nanocrystals. The optimization of such hybrid devices ultimately depends upon the precise positioning of the functionally distinct materials. Previous studies have already emphasized that this is a challenge, owing to the lack of well-developed nanometre-scale fabrication techniques. Here we demonstrate a hybrid light-emitting diode (LED) that combines the ease of processability of organic materials with the narrow-band, efficient luminescence of colloidal quantum dots (QDs). To isolate the luminescence processes from charge conduction, we fabricate a quantum-dot LED (QD-LED) that contains only a single monolayer of QDs, sandwiched between two organic thin films. This is achieved by a method that uses material phase segregation between the QD aliphatic capping groups and the aromatic organic materials. In our devices, where QDs function exclusively as lumophores, we observe a 25-fold improvement in luminescence efficiency (1.6 cd A(-1) at 2,000 cd m(-2)) over the best previous QD-LED results. The reproducibility and precision of our phase-segregation approach suggests that this technique could be widely applicable to the fabrication of other hybrid organic/inorganic devices.

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