Enhanced light-emission efficiency of multi-color electrochemiluminescence displays using electrochemical Au nanoparticle catalysts with three dimensional ZnO nanorod electrodes

The advantages of ion-gel-based electrochemiluminescence (ECL) displays over organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays are their simple structure, low processing cost, and insensitivity to moisture. Despite these advantages, ion-gel-based ECL displays suffer from low light-emission efficiencies. Therefore, in this study, catalytic Au nanoparticles (NPs) were applied in ECL displays to improve their light-emission efficiency. Furthermore, the catalytic activity of the Au NPs was maximized by applying three dimensional ZnO nanorods (NRs) on the bottom electrode. Whereas the conventional ion-gel-based red (R), green (G), and blue (B) ECL devices with indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes are driven at 3.0 V_PP, the R, G, and B ECL devices with Au NPs can be driven at 2.0, 1.8, and 1.9 V_PP, respectively, because the activation properties of the catalysts were maximized by incorporating ZnO NRs in the electrode. Thus, this study demonstrates that Au NPs can be applied as electrochemical catalysts in ECL devices. Furthermore, by employing the ZnO NRs, ECL devices that can be driven by extremely low voltages were successfully fabricated with a simple structure, using a simple process.