All-inorganic silicon white light-emitting device with an external quantum efficiency of 1.0%

With low toxicity and high abundance of silicon, silicon nanocrystal (Si-NC) based white light-emitting device (WLED) is expected to be an alternative promising choice for general lighting in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner. Therefore, an all-inorganic Si-NC based WLED was reported for the first time in this paper. The active layer was made by mixing freestanding Si-NCs with hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ), followed by annealing and preparing the carrier transport layer and electrodes to complete the fabrication of an LED. Under forward biased condition, the electroluminescence (EL) spectrum of the LED showed a broadband spectrum. It was attributed to the mechanism of differential passivation of Si-NCs. The performance of LED could be optimized by modifying the annealing temperature and ratio of Si-NCs to HSQ in the active layer. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) peak of the Si WLED was 1.0% with a corresponding luminance of 225.8 cd/m2, and the onset voltage of the WLED was 2.9V. The chromaticity of the WLED indicated a warm white light emission.