White light-emitting electrochemical cells based on the Langmuir-Blodgett technique.

Light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) showing a white emission have been prepared with Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films of the metallosurfactant bis[2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)pyridine][2-(1-hexadecyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)pyridine]iridium(III) chloride (1), which work with an air-stable Al electrode. They were prepared by depositing a LB film of 1 on top of a layer of poly(N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(4-hexylphenyl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4,4′-diamine (pTPD) spin-coated on indium tin oxide (ITO). The white color of the electroluminescence of the device contrasts with the blue color of the photoluminescence of 1 in solution and within the LB films. Furthermore, the crystal structure of 1 is reported together with the preparation and characterization of the Langmuir monolayers (π–A compression isotherms and Brewster angle microscopy (BAM)) and LB films of 1 (IR, UV–vis and emission spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), specular X-ray reflectivity (SXR), and atomic force microscopy (AFM)).