Polar zinc oxide surface in electrolyte solutions: an atomic view of reconstruction, hydration and surface states

Revealing a Zinc Oxide/Perovskite Luminescence Quenching Mechanism Targeting Low-Roll-off Light-Emitting Diodes

Balanced charge injection is key to achieving perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) with a low efficiency roll-off at a high brightness. The use of zinc oxide (ZnO) with a high electron mobility as the charge transport layers is desirable; however, photoluminescence (PL) quenching of a perovskite on ZnO always occurs. Here, a quasi-two-dimensional perovskite on ZnO is explored to uncover the PL quenching mechanism, mainly ascribed to the deprotonation of ammonium cations on the ZnO film in association with the decomposition of low-dimensional perovskite phases. Surprisingly, crystal plane-dependent PL quenching results indicate that the deprotonation rate strongly correlates with the crystal orientation of the ZnO surface. We developed a strategy for suppressing perovskite PL quenching by incorporating an atomic layer deposited Al₂O₃ onto the ZnO film. Consequently, an efficient inverted PeLED was achieved with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 17.7% and a less discernible efficiency roll-off at a high current density.