Localized surface plasmon resonance enhanced by the light-scattering property of silver nanoparticles for improved luminescence of polymer light-emitting diodes

Abstract This study used photochemical reduction to successfully synthesize triangular silver nanoplates (TAgNPs) and silver nanodecahedrons (AgNDs) with higher light-absorption and higher light-scattering properties, respectively, for the same wavelength. To analyze the contribution of light-absorption and light-scattering of silver nanoparticles to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate was doped with TAgNPs or AgNDs at the same concentration (1.17 μg/cm2) and made into polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs). According to the current density-voltageluminance characteristics and electroluminescence (EL) spectra, the enhancement factors for current efficiency and EL intensity for AgND-containing PLEDs were found to be higher than those for PLED with TAgNPs by 24.9% and 138%, respectively. This shows that the metal nanoparticles with higher light-scattering property can induce a relatively strong LSPR effect, which possibly gives a hint to design plasmonic photovoltaic in future.