Extremely stable graphene electrodes doped with macromolecular acid

Abstract

Although conventional p-type doping using small molecules on graphene decreases its sheet resistance (Rsh), it increases after exposure to ambient conditions, and this problem has been considered as the biggest impediment to practical application of graphene electrodes. Here, we report an extremely stable graphene electrode doped with macromolecular acid (perfluorinated polymeric sulfonic acid (PFSA)) as a p-type dopant. The PFSA doping on graphene provides not only ultra-high ambient stability for a very long time (> 64 days) but also high chemical/thermal stability, which have been unattainable by doping with conventional small-molecules. PFSA doping also greatly increases the surface potential (similar to 0.8 eV) of graphene, and reduces its Rsh by similar to 56%, which is very important for practical applications. High-efficiency phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes are fabricated with the PFSA-doped graphene anode (similar to 98.5 cd A(-1) without out-coupling structures). This work lays a solid platform for practical application of thermally-/chemically-/air-stable graphene electrodes in various optoelectronic devices.