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Product Code M341-1g
Price £220 ex. VAT

CuPc, active or HIL layer material for LEDs and organic solar cells

Low price and high purity sublimed grade (>99%) ideal for organic electronics.


Copper(II) phthalocyanine, known as CuPc or pigment blue 15 , has been used as an electron donor with fullerene-C60 or phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) in vacuum-deposited organic photovoltaics (OPV)[1]. Power conversion efficiency of about 1% has been achieved [2] and improved efficiency of 4% with pentacene-doped CuPc layer [3]. CuPc has also been used as a hole-injection material for light-emitting diodes. It has been reported that a thin CuPc layer may effectively enhance the hole injection from the anode to the emissive-polymer layer, resulting in a dramatic decrease of operating voltage of the device [4]. Device stability was achieved by depositing a copper phthalocyanine CuPc hole-injection layer HIL on the ITO anode.

The improved stability of the device could be contributed to the good match of its highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level to the work function of ITO, and the improved wetting property of organic materials on ITO. Moreover, CuPc has very weak absorption of light, with wavelengths from 400 to 500 nm, making it suitable for use in blue and green OLEDs. Effective electron-blocking was also observed for inorganic–organic hybrid perovskite solar cells when CuPc-doped Spiro-OMeTAD was used as the hole-transporting layer [5].

Literature and Reviews

  1. Influence of codeposition on the performance of CuPc–C60 heterojunction photovoltaic devices, P. Sullivan et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 84, 1210 (2004).
  2. Two‐layer organic photovoltaic cell, C.Tang et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 48, 183 (1986), http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.96937.
  3. Improving efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells with pentacene-doped CuPc layer, W. Chen et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 91, 191109 (2007), http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2806195.
  4. Hole-injection enhancement by copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) in blue polymer light-emitting diodes, W. Yu et al., J. Appl. Phys., 89, 2343, (2001).
  5. Effective Electron Blocking of CuPC-Doped Spiro-OMeTAD for Highly Efficient Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells, J. Seo et al., Adv. Energy Mater., 2015, 1501320, DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201501320.
  6. Organic light-emitting diodes with improved hole-electron balance by using copper phthalocyanine/aromatic diamine multiple quantum wells, Y. Qiu et al., Phys. Lett., 80, 2628 (2002); Appl. doi: 10.1063/1.1468894.
  7. A High-Efficiency Blue Emitter for Small Molecule-Based Organic Light-Emitting Diode L. M. Leung et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 122, 5640-5641 (2000). DOI: 10.1021/ja000927z.
  8. High-Efficiency Organic Electroluminescent Device with Multiple Emitting Units,C-C. Chang et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 43, 6418–6422 (2004); [DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.43.6418.
  9. Obtaining high-efficiency red electrophosphorescent OLEDs by changing the thickness of light-emitting layer, X. Zhang et al., Display, 28, 150–153 (2007); doi:10.1016/j.displa.2007.06.001.
  10. Contrast and efficiency enhancement in organic light-emitting devices utilizing high absorption and high charge mobility organic layers, W. Xie et al.,opt. Express, 14, 7954-7959 (2006).
  11. Green Fluorescent Organic Light Emitting Device with High Luminance, N. Yang et al., Sensors & Transducers, 172 (6), 202-205 (2014).
  12. Effect of thickness variation of hole injection and hole blocking layers on the performance of fluorescent green organic light emitting diodes, K. Narayan et al., Curr. Appl. Phys., 13, 18-25 (2013); dio: 10.1016/j.cap.2012.06.004.

General Information

CAS number 147-14-8
Chemical formula C32H16CuN8
Molecular weight 576.07 g/mol
Absorption* λmax 678 nm (DMF)
Fluorescence λem 459 nm (DMF)
HOMO/LUMO HOMO ~ 5.2 eV, LUMO ~ 3.5 eV
Synonyms

CuPc

Copper(II) phthalocyanine

Phthalocyanine blue

Pigment Blue 15

Classification / Family Organometallic, Copper complex, Phthalocyanine, Small molecule, Light-emitting diodes, Hole injection layer (HIL) materials, Polymer solar cells, Perovskite solar cells, Sublimed materials.

*Measurable with the Ossila Optical Spectrometer, for more information see Spectrometer and Spectroscopy Accessories.

Product Details

Purity >99% (sublimed)
Melting point 350 °C
Appearance Blue-purple needles/powder

Sublimation is a technique used to obtain ultra pure-grade chemicals. For more details about sublimation, please refer to the Sublimed Materials.

Chemical Structure

Copper phthalocyanine chemical structure
Chemical structure of Copper(II) phthalocyanine

Device Structure(s)

Device structure ITO/CuPc(6.0 nm)/[NPB*(3.8 nm)/CuPc (1.5 nm)]4/NPB (15.0 nm)/Alq3 (60.0 nm)/Mg:Ag/Ag [6]
Colour green light emitting device Green
Max. Luminance 15,000 cd/m2
Max. Current Efficiency 10.8 cd/A
Device structure ITO/CuPc(10 nm)/NPB(50 nm)/AlMq2OH*(80 nm)/ LiF(0.7 nm)/Al(80 nm) [7]
Colour blue light emitting device Blue
Turn-on Voltage 9 V
Max. Luminance 14,070 cd/m2
Device structure ITO/CuPc (15 nm)/NPB (60 nm)/1% v/v C545T*:Alq3 (37.5 nm)/Alq3 (27.5 nm)/Mg:Alq3 (10 nm)/ WO3 (1 nm)/NPB (60 nm)/1% v/v C545T:Alq3 (37.5 nm)/Alq3 (37.5 nm)/LiF(1 nm)/Al (200 nm) [8]
Colour green light emitting device Green
EQE@ 20 mA/cm2 12.6%
Current Efficiency@20 mA/cm2 49.2 cd/A
Power Efficiency@20 mA/cm2 5.5 lm W-1
Device structure ITO/CuPc (15 nm)/NPB (30 nm)/ TPBi:Btp2Ir(acac)* 8 wt% (20 nm)/TPBi (15 nm)/Alq (15 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) [9]
Colour red light emitting device Red
Max. Luminance 4,798 cd/m2
EQE@ 4 mA/cm2 2.1%
Current Efficiency@4 mA/cm2 2.43 cd/A
Power Efficiency@4 mA/cm2 0.89 lm W-1
Device structure ITO/CuPc (25 nm)/NPB (25 nm)/Alq3 (20nm)/LiF (0.3 nm)/Al (0.6 nm)/C60 (30 nm)/Mg:Ag (100 nm) [10]
Colour white light emitting device White
Max. Luminance 17,170 cd/m2
Max. Current Efficiency 3.93 cd/A
Device structure ITO/CuPc (25 nm)/NPB (45 nm)/Alq3 (60 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) [11]
Colour green light emitting device Green
Max. Luminance 23,510 cd/m2
Max. Current Efficiency 4.8 cd/A
Max. Power Efficiency 4.2 lm W-1
Device structure ITO/CuPc (18 nm)/TPD (50 nm)/Alq3 (60 nm)/BCP (10 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) [12]
Colour green light emitting device Green
Max. Luminance 5,993 cd/m2
Max. Current Efficiency 3.82 cd/A
Max. Power Efficiency 2.61 lm W-1

*For chemical structure information, please refer to the cited references.

Characterisation

TGA trace of CuPc
TGA trace of Copper(II) phthalocyanine, CuPc.

MSDS Documentation

CuPc MSDSCuPc MSDS Sheet

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