Balancing charge-transporting characteristics in bipolar host materials

Abstract

Bipolar host materials with balanced charge transporting property were synthesized using a solvent-less green reaction method. The characteristics of these synthesized bipolar host materials were examined by thermal and spectroscopic analysis. The energy levels of these materials were estimated from cyclic voltammograms and absorption spectra. The optimized molecular geometries and spatial distributions were obtained from molecular simulations. Moreover, the current density vs. voltage features of single-carrier devices were investigated to assess the bipolar transport characteristics of the host materials. As the length of the alkyl chain increased, the electron-transporting capability and hole-transporting ability exhibited optimum values at the octyl chain attachment. The current efficiency, power efficiency and quantum efficiency values of white organic light-emitting diodes prepared by blending blue and yellow iridium phosphors with these bipolar hosts were high with decreasing alkyl chain length. The result was remarkably similar to the trend of current density characteristics of single-carrier devices. The power efficiency of the octyl chain attached bipolar host was approximately three times higher than that of typical blended hole and electron transporting materials. This enhanced efficiency was attributed to the well-balanced charge transfer by the bipolar host material inside an emissive layer. Moreover, the morphology of the device fabricated with a blend of charge transport materials changed due to deterioration, whereas that of the device fabricated with bipolar host materials did not change after 12 h of operation at 9 V.