Organic EL element

An organic EL device comprising:

• a sealed container having a glass substrate and a sealing cap bonded to said glass substrate,
• a light emitting region formed on said substrate in said sealed container, said light emitting region being formed of organic EL material layers placed between a pair of opposite anode and cathode electrodes;
• a water-capturing medium holding layer provided on an inner surface of said container spaced apart from said light emitting region;
• and
• a water-capturing medium layer placed on the surface of said water-capturing medium holding layer, wherein said water-capturing medium layer is a mixture or combination of an inorganic drying agent with an organic water-capturing medium selected from the group consisting of:
• an organometallic compound represented by the following formula (1):
• wherein R is a group selected from the group consisting of alkyl group, aryl group, cycloalkyl group, heterocyclic group and acyl group having one or more of carbon atoms;
• M is a trivalent metallic atom and n is an integer of one and above;
• an organometallic complex compound represented by the following chemical formula (2):
• wherein R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 may be the same or different, and are selected from the group consisting of alkyl group, aryl group, cycloalkyl group, heterocyclic group and acyl group having one or more of carbon atoms;
• and M is a trivalent metallic atom;
• and
• an organometallic complex compound represented by the following formula (3):
• wherein R1, R2, R3 and R4 may be the same or different, and are selected from the group consisting of alkyl group, aryl group, cyclo alkyl group, heterocyclic group and acyl group having one or more of carbon atoms;
• and M is a quadrivalent metallic atom.