Cyclometalated Platinum Complexes with Aggregation-Induced Phosphorescence Emission Behavior and Highly Efficient Electroluminescent Ability

Abstract

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials can exhibit intense luminescence in the aggregated or solid state, which are highly desirable for OLED application. However, only limited research results on developing AIE-active PtII complexes in electroluminescence (EL) application have been reported so far. Herein, a series of AIE-active PtII(C^N)(N-donor ligand)Cl complexes have been developed. Their chemical structures have been determined by NMR, MS, and X-ray crystallography characterization. Theoretical results including the frontier molecular orbitals, the simulated UV–vis spectra, and natural transition orbitals (NTO) have been employed to insightfully interpret their photophysical properties. It has also been found that a much higher degree of molecular aggregation in these PtII complexes should be required to induce phosphorescent AIE than that for the fluorescent AIE behavior. These AIE-active PtII complexes can exhibit very strong emission in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films with the phosph...