Conductive black layer made of alternating vanadium pentoxide(V2O5)/silver(Ag) layers are added on the anode in top-emitting organic light-emitting devices for improving contrast. The conductivity of the black anode is 7 Omega/(sic) and its optical reflectance within the visible spectral range is between 20% and 5%. The origin of the favorable properties of the black anodes is investigated by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and four-point probe technique. The contrast of the device utilizing the conductive black layer increases 13 times under 140 lx ambient illumination. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.