Electrically controlled photoluminescence efficiency of organic rubrene microplates

Semiconducting organic rubrene (5,6,11,12-tetraphenyltetracene) microplates (MPs) were fabricated using physical vapor transport to study tunable photoluminescence (PL) characteristics through an applied electric field. The nanoscale PL intensities of a rubrene MP, which were measured via high-resolution laser confocal microscopy (LCM), clearly depended on the applied electric field intensity. The LCM PL intensity of the rubrene MP sinusoidally varied with the periodic change of the electric field. We also observed the aging effect on the LCM PL intensity of rubrene MPs. Control of the charge dissociation rate of photoinduced excitons by the external electric field can be the cause of the tunable PL efficiency of the MP.