With reference now to FIG. 3, a schematic illustration of an LED with a TMDC active layer is shown according to one embodiment, having a monolayer of WS2 embedded between the organic buffer layers. The organic light emitting device 300 includes an anode 302, a cathode 304, organic buffer layers 306, 308 configured between the anode 302 and the cathode 304, and a two-dimensional emissive layer 310, which in the depicted example is a monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) active layer configured between the anode 302 and the cathode 304. The TMDC active layer 310 can be a monolayer of WS2. The first 306 and second 308 organic buffer layers have the monolayer of WS2 310 embedded therebetween. The first organic buffer layer 306 can be a hole-transporting layer configured between the monolayer of WS2 310 and the anode 302. The second organic buffer layer 306 can be an electron transport layer 308 configured between the cathode 304 and the monolayer of WS2 310. In one embodiment, the monolayer of WS2 or other two-dimensional emissive layer 310 may be positioned within the organic host layer. The organic host layer may have a thickness of between 1 nm and 1000 nm, or between 2 nm and 750 nm, or between 5 nm and 500 nm. The device as depicted is deposited on substrate 312, which may in some embodiments be a transparent substrate, for example comprising Si. In some embodiments, one or both electrodes 302 and 304 may be transparent. In the depicted embodiment, the cathode 304 is depicted as a cylindrical element partially covering the underlying layers 302, 306, 310, and 308, but in other embodiments the cathode 304 or anode 302 may comprise a conductive material formed as one or more parallel strips or in any other suitable shape partially covering the underlying layers, or alternative the cathode 304 or anode 302 may comprise a conductive transparent material substantially or completely covering the underlying layers.
