New ionic iridium(III) complexes based on methoxyl-modified 1-phenylisoquinoline for solution-processed red organic light-emitting diodes

Abstract

Three transition-metal phosphorescent iridium(Ⅲ) complexes (Ir1, Ir2, and Ir3) are designed and synthesized with 1-phenylisoquinolines modified by methoxy as the main ligands and o-phenanthroline as the auxiliary ligands. The introduction of different amounts of methoxy can change the luminescence color of the complexes, and Ir1, Ir2, and Ir3 show orange, dark red, and red phosphorescence under the excitation of 365 nm UV lamp, peaking at 588, 648, and 622 nm, respectively. Ionic complexes are conducive to the efficient solution-processed phosphorescent red organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Among the three devices, the Ir2-based device achieved a relatively high external quantum efficiency, current efficiency, and power efficiency of 1.12 %, 0.75 cd/A, and 0.37 lm/W, respectively. These results indicated that polymethoxy-based ionic Ir(III) complexes have great potential for the fabrication of red OLEDs with wet method.