Ladder-type π-conjugated frameworks with multi-heteroatom modulation for narrowband violet-blue multiple-resonance emitters with a low CIE y of 0.03.
The development of violet-blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with narrowband emission, high color purity and efficiency remains a formidable challenge, particularly under the stringent requirements of the wide-color-gamut display standards. Here, we propose a molecular design strategy that integrates oxygen-bridged triarylboron π-extension with precise heteroatom modulation to construct tetraboron-based MR-TADF emitters 4M-BOB4 and 4F-BOB4. The emitters adopt a ladder-type fused framework with a highly ordered arrangement of boron, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms, while fluorine substitution shifts the emission region from deep-blue to violet-blue. The incorporation of oxygen atoms not only regulates electronic delocalization and frontier orbital distribution, but also contributes to sharpening the emission bandwidth through localized conjugation modulation. As a result, 4F-BOB4 exhibits ultra-narrow emission in solution (with a full-width at half maximum of 14 nm), and corresponding OLED devices exhibit a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 20.9%. Notably, the device based on 4F-BOB4 exhibits a CIE y value ≤0.030, underscoring its status as one of the most color-pure violet-blue emitters reported to date. This work highlights the potential of rational π-framework engineering and localized electronic modulation as a generalizable approach to next-generation high-performance narrowband OLEDs.
- Research Article
75
- 10.31635/ccschem.020.202000243
- Aug 1, 2020
- CCS Chemistry
Organic light-emitting diodes utilizing thermally activated delayed fluorescence sensitizers and multiple-resonance (MR) dopants may simultaneously offer high efficiencies and narrow-band emissions...
- Research Article
18
- 10.1038/s41377-024-01531-0
- Aug 15, 2024
- Light: Science & Applications
Achieving high-luminescence organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) with narrowband emission and high color purity is important in various optoelectronic fields. Laser displays exhibit outstanding advantages in next-generation display technologies owing to their ultimate visual experience, but this remains a great challenge. Here, we develop a novel OLED based organic single crystals. By strongly coupling the organic exciton state to an optical microcavity, we obtain polariton electroluminescent (EL) emission from the polariton OLEDs (OPLEDs) with high luminance, narrow-band emission, high color purity, high polarization as well as excellent optically pumped polariton laser. Further, we evaluate the potential for electrically pumped polariton laser through theoretical analysis and provide possible solutions. This work provides a powerful strategy with a material–device combination that paves the way for electrically driven organic single-crystal-based polariton luminescent devices and possibly lasers.
- Research Article
335
- 10.1002/adma.202004072
- Aug 31, 2020
- Advanced Materials
Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials based on the multiple resonance (MR) effect are applied in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), combining high color purity and efficiency. However, they are not fabricated via solution-processing, which is an economical approach toward the mass production of OLED displays. Here, a solution-processable MR-TADF material (OAB-ABP-1), with an extended π-skeleton and bulky substituents, is designed. OAB-ABP-1 is synthesized from commercially available starting materials via a four-step process involving one-shot double borylation. OAB-ABP-1 presents attractive photophysical properties, a narrow emission band, a high photoluminescence quantum yield, a small energy gap between S1 and T1 , and low activation energy for reverse intersystem crossing. These properties are attributed to the alternating localization of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals induced by the boron, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. Furthermore, to facilitate charge recombination, two novel semiconducting polymers with similar ionization potentials to that of OAB-ABP-1 are synthesized for use as interlayer and emissive layer materials. A solution-processed OLED device is fabricated using OAB-ABP-1 and the aforementioned polymers; it exhibits pure green electroluminescence with a small full-width at half-maximum and a high external quantum efficiency with minimum efficiency roll-off.
- Research Article
55
- 10.1002/ange.202007210
- Aug 6, 2020
- Angewandte Chemie
The design and synthesis of organic materials with a narrow emission band in the longer wavelength region beyond 510 nm remain a great challenge. For constructing narrowband green emitters, we propose a unique molecular design strategy based on frontier molecular orbital engineering (FMOE), which can integrate the advantages of a twisted donor–acceptor (D‐A) structure and a multiple resonance (MR) delayed fluorescence skeleton. Attaching an auxiliary donor to a MR skeleton leads to a novel molecule with twisted D‐A and MR structure characteristics. Importantly, a remarkable red‐shift of the emission maximum and a narrowband spectrum are achieved simultaneously. The target molecule has been employed as an emitter to fabricate green organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.23, 0.69) and a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 27.0 %.
- Research Article
373
- 10.1002/anie.202007210
- Aug 6, 2020
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
The design and synthesis of organic materials with a narrow emission band in the longer wavelength region beyond 510 nm remain a great challenge. For constructing narrowband green emitters, we propose a unique molecular design strategy based on frontier molecular orbital engineering (FMOE), which can integrate the advantages of a twisted donor-acceptor (D-A) structure and a multiple resonance (MR) delayed fluorescence skeleton. Attaching an auxiliary donor to a MR skeleton leads to a novel molecule with twisted D-A and MR structure characteristics. Importantly, a remarkable red-shift of the emission maximum and a narrowband spectrum are achieved simultaneously. The target molecule has been employed as an emitter to fabricate green organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.23, 0.69) and a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 27.0 %.
- Research Article
3
- 10.1002/jsid.1309
- May 1, 2024
- Journal of the Society for Information Display
Thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) and phosphorescent blue organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been developed to overcome the relatively low triplet exciton utilization of traditional fluorescent OLEDs. However, broad emission spectra originating from charge transfer process limit the commercial application of such blue OLEDs. Herein, an effective phosphor‐sensitized fluorescent (PSF) OLED device structure was designed. PSF OLED exhibited a maximum blue index (BI) of 508 cd/A/CIEy with CIEy of 0.060, which has been the highest efficiency result reported for PSF deep‐blue OLEDs. A nearly 100% improvement in operational lifetime LT95 (L/L0 = 95%) was achieved successfully by using lower triplet energy (T1) and deuterated host materials. Impressively, the sensitized OLEDs maintained BI of 407 cd/A/CIEy, narrow emission spectra (FWHM = 17 nm), and high color purity (CIEy = 0.046), revealing the attractive technical advantages and commercial application potential.
- Research Article
4
- 10.1002/adom.202402214
- Nov 18, 2024
- Advanced Optical Materials
Highly efficient blue organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) generally exhibit inferior color purity or large full width at half maximum (FWHM). Therefore, emitting materials with simultaneously high efficiency and small FWHM in the deep‐blue region are challenging to construct. To address this, hybrid multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) emitters are designed by combining boron‐based MR‐TADF materials, which exhibit small FWHM and high efficiency, with indolo[3,2,1‐jk]carbazole (ICz)‐based MR‐TADF materials, which exhibit high color purity. Two hybrid MR‐TADF emitters are synthesized by hybridizing ICz with a boron‐based MR‐TADF core to prepare deep‐blue OLEDs with high efficiency and high color purity. The hybrid MR‐TADF emitter exhibits a maximum external quantum efficiency of 28.7% and deep‐blue emission at 454 nm with an FWHM of 25 nm, and CIEy of 0.053, nearly satisfying the BT 2020 color standard. The device efficiency achieved in this work is one of the highest values reported for the blue OLEDs with the CIEy close to 0.05.
- Research Article
8
- 10.3390/molecules27134048
- Jun 23, 2022
- Molecules
The employment of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters is one of the most promising ways to realize the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of over 25% for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In addition, the TADF emitter based on oxygen-bridged boron (BO) fragment can maintain blue emission with high color purity. Herein, we constructed two blue TADF emitters, 3TBO and 5TBO, for OLEDs application. Both emitters consist of three donors linked at the oxygen-bridged boron acceptor. OLED devices based on 3TBO and 5TBO exhibited both high excellent device efficiency and high color purity with a maximum EQE; full-width at half-maximum (FWHM); and CIE coordinates of 17.3%, 47 nm, (0.120, 0.294), and 26.2%, 57 nm, (0.125, 0.275), respectively.
- Research Article
33
- 10.1002/adom.202202950
- Mar 30, 2023
- Advanced Optical Materials
Multiple resonance (MR) type thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters are very promising in the high‐resolution and high‐efficiency displays, due to their narrow and highly efficient optical emissions. Early MR‐TADF cores that show only short‐range charge‐transfer (CT) electronic excitations hardly afford ideal performances (e.g., show low efficiencies) in organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). This work thus designs and synthesizes two MR‐TADF emitters (TCzBN‐BP and TCzBN‐FP), where the same MR core TCzBN is chemically modified by the acceptor fragments benzophenone/9‐fluorenone (BP/FP) to incorporate long‐range CT excitations in the two molecules. OLEDs exploiting TCzBN‐BP as emitter, in which short‐range CT excitation is dominant in the first singlet (S1) excited state, achieve a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 35.6% and a narrow emission bandwidth of 35 nm. In contrast, OLEDs exploiting TCzBN‐FP with an overloaded long‐range CT excitation in the S1 state exhibit a maximum EQE of 27.2% and a broadened emission bandwidth of 56 nm. This work not only shows the importance of careful management of long‐ and short‐range CT excitations, but also provides a new insight into the structure–property relationship in the MR‐TADF emitters, which thus promotes the design of more novel MR‐TADF emitters with high efficiencies and high color purity.
- Supplementary Content
- 10.3390/mi17010040
- Dec 29, 2025
- Micromachines
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have the advantages of high efficiency and high color purity, which gives them great potential and application prospects in the field of display technology, and thus they have been of wide interest for scholars and industry. Due to their nature, when using the first generation of fluorescent materials, only 25% of the excitons are used, while the rest are wasted, meaning the device efficiency does not exceed 25%. The second generation of phosphorescent materials solves this problem by utilizing 25% singlet excitons while utilizing 75% triplet excitons, achieving 100% internal quantum efficiency. Therefore, a third generation of materials, namely Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) materials, has been developed, and these are able to use the small singlet–triplet energy gap to allow excitons on the triplet state to upconvert back to the single state, which improves the utilization of triplet excitons. These TADF materials can also reach 100% maximum internal quantum efficiency, but they have many problems, such as low color purity and serious efficiency roll-off. Therefore, researchers have designed hyperfluorescent materials, which possess high efficiency, high color purity, and a long lifetime, showing tremendous potential and application prospects in the field of display technology. This report takes hyperfluorescent OLEDs as the entry point and the molecular design and luminescence mechanism of hyperfluorescent materials are reviewed, considering blue, green, red, and white light.
- Research Article
2
- 10.1002/adom.202503140
- Nov 17, 2025
- Advanced Optical Materials
Multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) emitters have attracted considerable academic and industrial attention because of their narrowband emission, high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs), and exceptional chemical and thermal stability. These characteristics make them highly promising for applications in ultra‐high‐definition (UHD) displays, as they enable organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) with high color purity, superior efficiency, and outstanding operational stability. Nevertheless, the development of highly efficient and stable deep‐blue OLEDs remains a critical and unresolved challenge. Recent advances in blue MR‐TADF emitters, based on boron/nitrogen‐, nitrogen/carbonyl‐, and indolocarbazole‐type MR systems, have yielded exceptional performance, with full‐width at half‐maximum (FWHM) values below 30 nm and external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) exceeding 30%. Despite these achievements, persistent issues such as aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ), efficiency roll‐off, and device stability continue to impede further progress in blue‐emitting OLEDs. This review comprehensively summarizes recent developments in blue MR‐TADF materials and devices, focusing on their molecular design strategies aimed at tuning emission color, mitigating ACQ, as well as improving device efficiency and operational lifetime. The discussed insights are expected to accelerate the development of high‐performance, stable blue MR‐TADF emitters for next‐generation UHD display.
- Research Article
127
- 10.1002/anie.202204652
- Jun 7, 2022
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Multiple resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) compounds have set off an upsurge of research because of their tremendous application prospects in the field of wide color gamut display. Herein, we propose a novel MR-TADF molecular construction paradigm based on polycyclization of the multiple resonance parent core, and construct a representative multiple resonance polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (MR-PAH) based on the para-alignment of boron and nitrogen atoms into a six-membered ring (p-BNR). Through the retrosynthesis analysis, a concise synthesis strategy with wide applicability has been proposed, encompassing programmed sequential boron esterification, Suzuki coupling and Scholl oxidative coupling. The target model molecule BN-TP shows green fluorescence with an emission peak at 523 nm and a narrow full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 34 nm. The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) employing BN-TP as an emitter exhibits ultrapure green emission with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.26, 0.70), and achieves a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 35.1 %.
- Research Article
11
- 10.1002/ange.202204652
- Jun 7, 2022
- Angewandte Chemie
Multiple resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) compounds have set off an upsurge of research because of their tremendous application prospects in the field of wide color gamut display. Herein, we propose a novel MR‐TADF molecular construction paradigm based on polycyclization of the multiple resonance parent core, and construct a representative multiple resonance polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (MR‐PAH) based on thepara‐alignment of boron and nitrogen atoms into a six‐membered ring (p‐BNR). Through the retrosynthesis analysis, a concise synthesis strategy with wide applicability has been proposed, encompassing programmed sequential boron esterification, Suzuki coupling and Scholl oxidative coupling. The target model molecule BN‐TP shows green fluorescence with an emission peak at 523 nm and a narrow full‐width at half‐maximum (FWHM) of 34 nm. The organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) employing BN‐TP as an emitter exhibits ultrapure green emission with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.26, 0.70), and achieves a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 35.1 %.
- Research Article
8
- 10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.155948
- Dec 2, 2022
- Applied Surface Science
Performance improvement of blue TADF top-emission OLEDs by tuning hole injection barriers using a nickel-doped silicon dioxide buffer layer
- Research Article
- 10.1002/sdtp.18301
- Jun 1, 2025
- SID Symposium Digest of Technical Papers
Phosphor‐assisted thermally activated delayed fluorescence sensitized fluorescence (pTSF) organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted much attention and have been regarded as the fourth‐generation OLED technology since its invention in 2022. In this work, through material optimization, device optimization, and process optimization, we fabricate a series of green pTSF OLED based devices and products, which realize high efficiency, long lifetime, and high color purity, manifesting the bright further of pTSF technology in mass production.
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