Eur. Phys. J. B (2012) 85: 160
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2012-20453-4

Regular Article

Dispersion of WS₂ nanotubes and nanoparticles into conducting polymer matrices for application as LED materials

¹ ENEA, UTTP NANO, Centro Ricerche Portici, 80055 Portici ( NA), Italy
² DISTA, Università del Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro”, 15121 Alessandria, Italy
³ Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel

^a Present address: Instituto Nationale di Fisica Nucleare INFN, Sezione Di Trieste, Padriciano 99, 34127 Trieste, Italy. e-mail: sumeet.kumar.iitk@gmail.com

Received: 10 June 2011
Received in final form: 27 February 2012
Published online: 22 May 2012

Abstract

We report our results on the effect of incorporation of inorganic fullerene like nanoparticles (IF) and inorganic nanotubes (INT) of WS₂ into hybrid LED device structures. To disperse into a uniform fashion, the semiconducting INT/IF WS₂ NTs were functionalized with SDS (sodium dodecylsulphate). The IF/INT WS₂ nanotubes were used in combination with PEDOT:PSS and P3HT to realize the following LED device structures: ITO/(PEDOT:PSS):(WS₂:SDS)/P3HT/LiF-Al; ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT/WS₂:SDS/LiF-Al. Morphological, optical and electrochemical analysis were performed to obtain the HOMO and the LUMO energy levels to hypothesize the most efficient device structure. The spectral positions of the electroluminescent bands were found out to be device-dependent and exhibits blue shift when the proposed nanostructure is dip coated on top of P3HT. Electro-optical analysis indicate that the WS₂:SDS based P3HT/semiconductor film can improve the charge recombination probability owing to its dual functionality as hole blocking layer and electron injection moiety.