Enhancing the efficiency of solution-processed inverted quantum dot light-emitting diodes via ligand modification with 6-mercaptohexanol

In this Letter, the surface hydrophilicity of the quantum dot (QD) emitting layer (EML) was modified via a ligand exchange to prevent QD EML damage upon hole transport layer (HTL) deposition for all-solution-processed inverted QD-light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). The conventional hydrophobic oleic acid ligand (OA-QDs) was partially replaced with a hydrophilic 6-mercaptohexanol (OH-QDs) through a one-pot ligand exchange. Owing to this replacement, the contact angle of a water droplet on the OH-QD films was reduced to 71.7^◦ from 89.5^◦ on the OA-QD films, indicating the conversion to hydrophilic hydroxyl ligands. The OH-QD EML maintained its integrity without any noticeable damage, even after HTL deposition, enabling all-solution processing for inverted QLEDs with well-organized multilayers. Inverted QLEDs with the OH-QD EMLs were compared with those with OA-QD EMLs; the maximum current efficiency of the device with the OH-QD EML significantly improved to 39.0 cd A⁻¹ from 5.3 cd A⁻¹, and the peak external quantum efficiency improved to 9.3% from 1.2%, which is a seven-fold increase over the OA-QD device. This approach is believed to be effective for forming solid QD films with resistance to chlorobenzene, a representative HTL solvent, and consequently contributes to high-efficiency all-solution-processed inverted QLEDs.