Properties of single-walled carbon nanotube-based poly(phenylene vinylene) electroluminescent nanocomposites

Devices with varying concentrations of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) dispersed in three derivatives of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) are prepared, and their electroluminescent properties evaluated. Increasing the concentration of SWNTs improves the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposites. However, an undesired increase in the electroluminescence (EL) turn-on voltage is observed for the hybrids, possibly due to photoluminescence quenching of excitons by the SWNTs. At relatively low concentrations of SWNTs, there is an increase in the EL lifetime; in contrast, at relatively high concentrations of SWNTs, due to photoluminescence quenching by the nanotubes, significant reduction in brightness and faster degradation of the EL performance of the devices is observed.