Doping chloro boron subnaphthalocyanines and chloro boron subphthalocyanine in simple OLED architectures yields warm white incandescent-like emissions

Abstract

We have incorporated chloro boron subphthalocyanine (Cl-BsubPc) and chloro boron subnapthalocyanines (Cl-ClnBsubNcs) into organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) that enabled an overall warm white emission with CIE coordinates close to that of a 60 W incandescent lightbulb. More specifically, we have shown that Cl-BsubPc and Cl-ClnBsubNcs can be used as dopant emitters in a simple host-dopant architecture, and we have compared the use of NPB and Alq3 as potential hosts for these materials. When doped into Alq3, Cl-BsubPc shows a strong orange emission, and Cl-ClnBsubNcs shows a moderately strong red emission. We have further demonstrated that Cl-BsubPc and Cl-ClnBsubNcs can be co-doped into the same layer giving combined orange and red emission peaks. A “cascade” energy transfer mechanism of sequential absorption and re-emission is proposed. Device performance characteristics such as luminance, current efficiency, photoluminescence efficiency, and external quantum efficiency are tabulated. Additionally, in view of ongoing research into white emitting OLEDs for indoor lighting purposes, the Colour Rendering Index (CRI), R9 values, and CIE co-ordinates for these devices are also discussed. We conclude from this study that the BsubNc chromophore has potential application as a red dopant in OLEDs including for indoor lighting. Additionally, given the scope for axial and peripheral derivatization of the BsubNc motif, we believe that this chromophore has many unexplored molecular design handles that will affect its ultimate performance and application in OLEDs and other opto-electronic devices.