Brightness enhancement of a direct-current-driven electroluminescent device prepared with zinc-sulfide powder.

In this paper, we report an improved luminous efficiency of a direct-current-driven electroluminescent (EL) device using ZnS powder by controlling electron and hole injection barriers. The emission layer was fabricated by screen-printing of an EL paste using Cu-coated ZnS particles on a transparent conductive indium–tin-oxide electrode. The device was completed by stacking an Al thin film on the emission layer by thermal evaporation. We applied various forming voltages to investigate the current–voltage–luminescence characteristics of the device. An abrupt change in current during the forming process was caused by variation of the electron-blocking barrier toward the anode. The hole-injection barrier from the anode to the emission layer increased with the forming voltage. The obtained results indicated that the hole-injection barrier to the emission layer can be lowered by inserting materials with a low highest-occupied-molecular-orbital (HOMO) energy level between the anode and emission layer. We achieved a brightness enhancement of 29% by employing a thin film of poly-N-vinyl carbazole with a HOMO level of −5.6 eV as a hole-injection layer on the anode. We believe that the presented results will guide further studies for efficiency improvement of EL devices using powder particles applicable to next-generation lighting and displays. • The electron blocking layer induces abnormal current drop during forming process. • Stoichiometry changes the band structure of Cu-coated ZnS powder-based EL devices. • Tunneling of holes through the hole injection layer improves luminous efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]