Theoretical study on the electronic structure and optical properties of carbazole-π-dimesitylborane as bipolar fluorophores for nondoped blue OLEDs

Abstract

Molecules with D-π-A structures are drawing increased attention for applications in organic electronic devices due to their distinct optoelectronic properties. A study of a new series of bipolar fluorophores that have been chemically modified for use as highly efficient nondoped blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) has been carried out based on existing molecular structures and a literature survey. The aim of this study is to provide a profound interpretation of the optical and electronic properties and the structure–property relationships of a series of new bipolar fluorophores. The study also aims to predict the photophysical and optoelectronic properties of the new fluorophores. The density functional theory (DFT) has been confirmed as reliable, especially in predicting the properties of unknown products. The geometry and the electronic structure of these molecules in the ground state were studied with DFT and ab initio HF, whereas the lowest singlet excited-state geometries were optimized by ab initio singlet configuration interaction (CIS). The absorption and emission spectra, both in the gas phase and in THF, and the lowest singlet excited energies were calculated by employing the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and the polarizable continuum model (PCM). To precisely predict the charge-transporting and charge-confining properties of the new fluorophores, three-layered devices have been simulated. The results show that the molecular geometries, HOMOs, LUMOs, energy gaps, ionization potentials (IP), electron affinities (EA), radiative lifetimes (τ), absorption and emission spectra are all tuned by chemical modifications with different π-conjugated bridges. The results also show that these molecular materials could be used as bipolar light-emitting materials for blue and deep-blue OLEDs.