Deep-blue Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Research Articles

Excited-State Engineering Enables Efficient Deep-Blue Light-Emitting Diodes Exhibiting BT.2020 Color Gamut.

Organic luminescent materials that exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) can convert non-emissive triplet excitons into emissive singlet states through a reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) process. Therefore, they have tremendous potential for applications in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, with the development of ultra-high definition 4K/8K display technologies, designing efficient deep-blue TADF materials to achieve the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) coordinates fulfilling BT.2020 remains a significant challenge. Here, an effective approach is proposed to design deep-blue TADF molecules based on hybrid long- and short-range charge-transfer by incorporation of multiple donor moieties into organoboron multiple resonance acceptors. The resulting TADF molecule exhibits deep-blue emission at 414nm with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 29nm, together with a thousand-fold increase in RISC rate. OLEDs based on the champion material achieve a record maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 22.8% with CIE coordinates of (0.163, 0.046), approaching the coordinates of the BT.2020 blue standard. Moreover, TADF-assisted fluorescence devices employing the designed material as a sensitizer exhibit an exceptional EQE of 33.1%. This work thus provides a blueprint for future development of efficient deep-blue TADF emitters, representing an important milestone towards meeting the blue color gamut standard of BT.2020.

Fine tuning of excited states by trifluoromethylphenyl for blue-shifted color and enhanced EQEs in thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters

3,6-di-tert-butyl-9H-carbazole and 3,6-diphenyl-9H-carbazole have been widely used to construct blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters. However, it is difficult for related emitters to achieve maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) above 20 % with the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) y ≤ 0.12. A new type of donor was developed to construct blue TADF molecules, namely CF3P-BuCz-TRZ and CF3P-PhCz-TRZ. The weak electron-withdrawing trifluoromethylphenyl (CF3P) with moderate steric hindrance was introduced into the 1-site of carbazole donor for improving the color purity for blue TADF emitters. More importantly, the introduction of CF3P tightly compacts the energy levels for the significant excited states in RISC process. The energy gap between the lowest singlet excited (S1) state and the lowest triplet (T1) state (Δ E(S1−T1)), as well as between T1 and the higher triplet (Tn, n ≥ 2) states (Δ E(Tn−T1)) were reduced, so that Tn (n ≥ 2) could be effectively harvested to further promote reverse intersystem crossing (RISC). As a result, the OLEDs based on CF3P-BuCz-TRZ and CF3P-PhCz-TRZ displayed blue electroluminescence with CIE coordinates of (0.156, 0.107) and (0.155, 0.115). In particular, the maximum EQEs of the CF3P-PhCz-TRZ device reached 20.43 % without employing any light out-coupling enhancement or TADF-sensitized structure. This strategy should be valuable for designing more pure-blue and deep-blue TADF emitters.

Multifunctional Deep-Blue Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Based on an Oxygen-Bridged Boron Acceptor for Highly Efficient Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

Until now, thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials based on bridged boron-based acceptors have been primarily developed as dopants. However, in this study, we synthesized and characterized multifunctional deep-blue TADF materials─t-OBO-DMAC and t-OBO-DPAC─using bridged boron-based acceptors in combination with dimethylacridine or diphenylacridine as donors. These materials serve as both dopants and hosts. Theoretical calculations and experimentally measured photophysical properties of t-OBO-DMAC reveal a smaller singlet-triplet energy difference, higher photoluminescence quantum yield, and more efficient reverse intersystem crossing compared to t-OBO-DPAC. When evaluated as TADF emitters, t-OBO-DMAC and t-OBO-DPAC exhibited maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 14.4 and 7.3% with deep-blue color coordinates of (0.14, 0.11) and (0.15, 0.07), respectively. Both materials were further assessed as hosts in various configurations, including host-only, TADF, phosphorescent, and phosphor-sensitized fluorescence (PSF)-emitting systems. Notably, t-OBO-DMAC demonstrated a high maximum EQE of 13.9% with deep-blue color coordinates of (0.15, 0.07) in a nondoped host-only device. Remarkably, both materials achieved EQEs exceeding 20% in the PSF devices. Our study marks a critical advancement in the field that breaks the conventional boundaries of the dopant and host and demonstrates unprecedented multifunctionalities for advanced organic light-emitting diodes.

Realizing highly efficient deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes towards Rec.2020 chromaticity by restricting the vibration of the molecular framework.

Deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with narrow emission spectra and high efficiency, meeting the Rec.2020 standard, hold significant promise in the realm of 4K/8K ultrahigh-definition displays. However, the development of light-emitting materials exhibiting both narrowband emission and high efficiency, particularly in the realm of deep-blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), confronts substantial challenges. Herein, a novel deep-blue TADF emitter, named BOC-PSi, was designed by integrating a rigid B-heterotriangulene acceptor (A) with a rigid phenazasiline donor (D). The replacement of a sp3 carbon atom with a sp3 silicon atom in the D moiety helps to restrict the low-frequency bending vibration throughout the entire D-A molecular backbone, while concurrently accelerating the multi-channel reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) processes. Notably, OLEDs using the BOC-PSi emitter exhibit exceptional performance, with a high maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) approaching 20%, and a superior color purity closely aligning with the Rec.2020 blue standard.

Ultralow-loss Optical Waveguides through Balancing Deep-Blue TADF and Orange Room Temperature Phosphorescence in Hybrid Antimony Halide Microstructures.

Harnessing the potential of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) is crucial for developing light-emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers, sensors, and many others. However, effective strategies in this domain are still relatively scarce. This study presents a new approach to achieving highly efficient deep-blue TADF (with a PLQY of 25 %) and low-energy orange RTP (with a PLQY of 90 %) through the fabrication of lead-free hybrid halides. This new class of monomeric and dimeric 0D antimony halides can be facilely synthesized using a bottom-up solution process, requiring only a few seconds to minutes, which offer exceptional stability and nontoxicity. By leveraging the highly adaptable molecular arrangement and crystal packing modes, the hybrid antimony halides demonstrate the ability to self-assemble into regular 1D microrod and 2D microplate morphologies. This self-assembly is facilitated by multiple non-covalent interactions between the inorganic cores and organic shells. Notably, these microstructures exhibit outstanding polarized luminescence and function as low-dimensional optical waveguides with remarkably low optical-loss coefficients. Therefore, this work not only presents a pioneering demonstration of deep-blue TADF in hybrid antimony halides, but also introduces 1D and 2D micro/nanostructures that hold promising potential for applications in white LEDs and low-dimensional photonic systems.

Engineering the Macrocyclic Donor Structures towards Deep-Blue Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters.

Deep-blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules present promising potential in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), especially for display applications. Here, an efficient molecular engineering approach to modifying the donor or acceptor features of the D-π-A-configured TADF molecules for deep-blue emission is reported. By introducing oxygen and sulfone as a bridge unit onto the macrocyclic donor, two emitters, c-ON-MeTRZ and c-NS-MeTRZ, are synthesized and characterized, respectively. The reduced donor strength of c-ON-MeTRZ and c-NS-MeTRZ as compared to that of the model molecule c-NN-MeTRZ leads to blue-shifted emissions with high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) and retains TADF characters, while the new emitter c-NN-MePym with the most blue-shifted emission only exhibits a pure fluorescent nature because of the electron-accepting feature of pyrimidine that is insufficient for inducing the TADF property. In the presence of macrocyclic donors, these new emitters show high horizontal dipole ratios (Θ// = 85-89%), which are beneficial for improving the light out-coupling efficiency. Deep-blue TADF OLEDs incorporating c-ON-MeTRZ as an emitter doped in the mCPCN host achieves a high maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 30.2% together with 1931 Commission Internationale de I'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.14, 0.13), while the counter device employing c-NS-MeTRZ as a dopant gives EQEmax of 15.4% and CIE coordinates of (0.14, 0.09). The EQEmax of c-ON-MeTRZ- and c-NS-MeTRZ-based devices can be significantly improved to 34.4 and 29.3%, respectively, with a polar host DPEPO, which stabilizes the charge transfer (CT) S1 state to give lower ΔEST for improving the reverse intersystem crossing process. The efficient TADF character, high PLQYs, and high anisotropic emission dipole ratios work together to render the superior electroluminescence (EL) efficiencies. Based on the detailed characterizations of physical properties, theoretical analyses, and comprehensive study on the corresponding devices, a clear structure-property-performance relationship has been successfully established to verify the effective molecular design strategy of modulating the macrocyclic donor characters for efficient deep-blue TADF emitters.

Tröger's Base-Derived Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Dopant for Efficient Deep-Blue Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

The development of efficient deep-blue emitters with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) properties is a highly significant but challenging task in the field of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) applications. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of two new 4,10-dimethyl-6H,12H-5,11-methanodibenzo[b,f][1,5]diazocine (TB)-derived TADF emitters, TB-BP-DMAC and TB-DMAC, which feature distinct benzophenone (BP)-derived acceptors but share the same dimethylacridin (DMAC) donors. Our comparative study reveals that the amide acceptor in TB-DMAC exhibits a significantly weaker electron-withdrawing ability in comparison to that of the typical benzophenone acceptor employed in TB-BP-DMAC. This disparity not only causes a noticeable blue shift in the emission from green to deep blue but also enhances the emission efficiency and the reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) process. As a result, TB-DMAC emits efficient deep-blue delay fluorescence with a photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 50.4% and a short lifetime of 2.28 μs in doped film. The doped and non-doped OLEDs based on TB-DMAC display efficient deep-blue electroluminescence with spectral peaks at 449 and 453 nm and maximum external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of 6.1% and 5.7%, respectively. These findings indicate that substituted amide acceptors are a viable option for the design of high-performance deep-blue TADF materials.

Deep blue thermally activated delayed fluorescent emitters based on methyl-modified acridin-9(10H)-one acceptor

Developing deep blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials with high efficiencies and good color purities is still a formidable challenge. Here, two novel deep blue TADF emitters, namely MePhCz-AD and MePhCz-AD-Py, were synthesized by incorporating two 3,6-diphenyl-9H-carbazole donors onto the methyl-modified acridin-9(10H)-one (AD) acceptor, respectively. The high rigidity of AD acceptor effectively suppressed non-radiative transition and vibration relaxation of excited states, which is favorable for a good emitting quantum yield and narrow spectral width. The presence of methyl groups at 2,7-sites of AD ring slightly reduced the acceptor strength and contributed to the deep blue emission color. Incorporation of phenyls at 3,6-sites of carbazole ring delocalized the distribution of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), promoting the radiative decay process. As a result, these two emitters showed deep blue TADF with fast radiative decay rates kR > 107 s−1. In addition, with the introduction of pyridyl (Py) group at 10-site of AD ring instead of phenyl, both the spin-orbital coupling (SOC) constant between high-lying triplet states and the lowest singlet excited state (S1) and thus the reverse intersystem crossing rate constant (kRISC) were dramatically promoted for MePhCz-AD-Py. The organic light-emitting diode with MePhCz-AD-Py as doped emitter exhibited a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 15.4% with a relatively narrow FWHM of 60 nm and the deep-blue color coordinates of (0.15, 0.15).

Towards Efficient Blue Delayed-Fluorescence Molecules by Modulating Torsion Angle Between Electron Donor and Acceptor

Towards Efficient Blue Delayed-Fluorescence Molecules by Modulating Torsion Angle Between Electron Donor and Acceptor

High-efficiency and low roll-off deep-blue OLEDs enabled by thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter with preferred horizontal dipole orientation

• Molecular engineering by linear extension resulted in two blue TADF emitters. • The two emitters exhibited high photoluminescence quantum yields and preferred horizontal dipole orientation. • Deep-blue TADF OLEDs achieved external quantum efficiency of up to 29.3% and low efficiency roll-off. Highly efficient blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials with high horizontal dipole orientation (Θ // ) remain a big challenge due to the concentration quenching effects and serious efficiency roll-offs in their corresponding organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). We herein report two novel TADF compounds, namely 2TDBA-SBA and TDBA-SBA, which were facilely synthesized by utilizing a rigid oxygen-bridged cyclized triarylboron-based unit (TDBA) as the acceptor and a spiro acridine (SBA) as the donor. Benefiting from the rigid and planar skeleton of the acceptor and the linear molecular shape, high Θ // s and photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) of ∼ 90% were achieved. Significantly, TDBA-SBA exhibited excellent TADF properties with a short delayed fluorescence lifetime of only 684 ns and narrow full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 44 nm in solution state, accompanied by the high PLQYs of over 80% at high doping concentrations, manifesting the alleviated exciton quenching effects. Consequently, OLEDs based on TDBA-SBA achieved a high maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 29.3% and a maximum brightness of 27663 cd cm −2 . Importantly, an EQE over 20% was realized even at the high brightness of 10000 cd cm −2 , signifying a small efficiency roll-off.

Carbazole-2-carbonitrile as an acceptor in deep-blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters for narrowing charge-transfer emissions.

This work reports a new acceptor for constructing donor–acceptor type (D–A type) blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters with narrowed charge-transfer (CT) emissions. A new acceptor core, carbazole-2-carbonitrile (CCN), is formed by the fusion of carbazole and benzonitrile. Three D–A type TADF emitters based on the CCN acceptor, namely 3CzCCN, 3MeCzCCN, and 3PhCzCCN, have been successfully synthesized and characterized. These emitters show deep-blue emissions from 439 to 457 nm with high photoluminescence quantum yields of up to 85% in degassed toluene solutions. Interestingly, all CCN-based deep-blue TADF emitters result in narrow CT emissions with full-width at half-maximums (FWHMs) of less than 50 nm in toluene solutions, which are pretty narrower compared with those of typical D–A type TADF emitters. Devices based on these emitters show high maximum external quantum efficiencies of up to 17.5%.

A periphery cladding strategy to improve the performance of narrowband emitters, achieving deep-blue OLEDs with CIEy < 0.08 and external quantum efficiency approaching 20%

Deep-blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters with National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard (0.14, 0.08) and narrowband emission have been one of the challenging issues for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this work, a novel molecular design strategy, periphery cladding, was used to design and synthesize three deep-blue multi-resonance TADF emitters, N,N, 5,9-tetraphenyl-5,9-dihydro-5,9-diaza-13b-boranaphtho[3,2,1- de ]anthracen-7-amine ( PAB ), 2,12-di- tert -butyl-5,9-bis(4-( tert -butyl)phenyl)- N , N -diphenyl-5,9-dihydro-5,9-diaza-13b-boranaphtho[3,2,1- de ]anthracen-7-amine ( 2tPAB ) and 2,12-di- tert -butyl-N,N,5,9-tetrakis(4-( tert -butyl)phenyl)-5,9-dihydro-5,9-diaza-13b-boranaphtho[3,2,1- de ]anthracen-7-amine ( 3tPAB ). By cladding large steric hindrance tert -butyl unit at periphery of multi-resonance emitter, the intermolecular interactions were suppressed, thus reducing aggregation-induced emission quenching and improving the PLQY of emitter. 3tPAB with full periphery cladding exhibited higher PLQY (74.7%). As a result, the device based on 3tPAB acquired the best performance by using 1,3-di(9 H -carbazol-9-yl)benzene (mCP) with low polarity as host. The maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE max ), CIE coordinates, and full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 3tPAB -based device were 19.3%, (0.141, 0.076), and 26 nm, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first report about narrowband TADF OLEDs with single host that EQE max approaches 20% while CIE coordinates meet the NTSC blue-light standard. • Three deep-blue multi-resonance TADF emitters were designed and synthesized. • A useful strategy was demonstrated to improve the performance of multi-resonance TADF emitter. • EQE max and CIE coordinates of the device based on 3tPAB exhibited 19.3% and (0.141, 0.076), respectively.

Deep-blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter with a very high fluorescence rate

Conventional thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules achieve small energy differences between the lowest singlet and triplet excited states (Δ E ST ) by enhancing the intramolecular charge transfer, which inevitably leads to a wide emission spectrum and low fluorescence rate. Here, we prepared a deep blue TADF molecule via a small Δ E ST pyridine-phenol fluoroboron complex as the acceptor. The small Δ E ST is maintained when carbazole donors are attached to the 4-position of the phenyl rings in the fluoroboron complex. Benefiting from the strong electron coupling between the donor (D) and acceptor (A) moieties, the compound Cz-4-BF exhibits a high fluorescence rate of 4.8 × 10 8 s −1 and a small D-A dihedral angle change in the excited state. Consequently, a photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield of nearly 100% and a PL spectrum with full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) < 60 nm were obtained in solution and low-concentration doped films. A TADF-sensitized fluorescence (TSF) device containing Cz-4-BF achieves an external quantum efficiency of 21%, which is higher than the devices employing classical fluorescent emitters and multiple resonance-type TADF emitters. The Cz-4-BF-based TSF device shows significantly improved color coordinates of (0.14, 0.10) versus a control device without Cz-4-BF. • Deep-blue TADF emitter with very high fluorescence rate of 4.8 × 10 8 s −1 . • Full-width at half-maximum of PL and EL spectra <60 nm. • PL and EL efficiencies are higher than those of multiple resonance type TADF emitters.

Achieving Narrow FWHM and High EQE Over 38% in Blue OLEDs Using Rigid Heteroatom‐Based Deep Blue TADF Sensitized Host

AbstractSimultaneously obtaining high efficiency and deep blue emission in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) remains a challenge. To overcome the demands associated with deep blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters, two deep blue TADF materials namely, DBA–BFICz and DBA–BTICz, are designed and synthesized by incorporating oxygen‐bridged boron (DBA) acceptor with heteroatoms, oxygen and sulphur‐based donors, BFICz and BTICz, respectively. Both TADF materials show deep blue photoluminescence emissions below 450 nm by enhancing the optical band gap over 2.8 eV through deeper highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of heteroatom based donor moieties. At the same time, the photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) of both TADF materials remain over 94%. The TADF device with DBA–BFICz as an emitter exhibits a good external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 33.2%. Since both new TADF materials show deep blue emissions and high efficiencies, hyperfluorescence (HF) OLED devices are fabricated using ν‐DABNA as a fluorescence dopant. DBA–BFICz as a TADF sensitized host in HF–OLED reveals an outstanding EQE of 38.8% along with narrow full width at half maximum of 19 nm in the bottom emission pure blue OLEDs. This study provides an approach to develop deep blue TADF emitters for highly efficient OLEDs.

Polymorph acceptor-based triads with photoinduced TADF for UV sensing

In contrast to many donor–acceptor type organic luminophores exhibiting thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), two deep blue TADF emitters designed in this work contain only typical electron accepting moieties with different electron accepting abilities. Derivatives of benzophenone and diphenylsulfone substituted with phenothiazine-5,5-dioxide donor moieties were synthesized and studied. In addition to the TADF, green to blue emission color switching and strong fluorescence intensity enhancement by more than 60 times was detected for THF solution of the derivative of phenothiazine-5,5-dioxide and benzophenone under increase of UV excitation dose. We proved by a variety of experimental and theoretical studies that the unusual photophysical properties of the derivative of benzophenone are mainly related to the formation of different conformers. The photostimulated intensity enhancement of the compound is due to the rise of the quantity of triplet states and their further crossing to singlet states. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of a combination of photoinduced color switching and triplet-dependent emission intensity enhancement. These properties are shown to be useful for UV sensing with very low detection limits (less than 10 μW/cm2 for the toluene solution). Under gradual increase of UV excitation dose, the DMF solution demonstrated a green → blue color swishing from (0.34; 0.44) to (0.17; 0.18) of CIE coordinates that can be detected by naked eye.

26‐1: Invited Paper: Boron Based Deep Blue TADF Materials and Hyperfluorescence Devices

We report boron based deep blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) material and its hyperfluorescence devices. Our synthesized TADF materials show EQEs of 30~39% and long device lifetime (LT90) of over 40 hrs at initial luminance of 1,000 cd/m2 with consideration of the bond dissociation energy and host engineering. The hyperfluorescence device with these TADF hosts shows the high EQE of 39.3% and 19 nm of narrow full width at half medium (FWHM) with maximum peak at 473 nm.

A novel molecular design featuring the conversion of inefficient TADF emitters into efficient TADF emitters for deep-blue organic light emitting diodes

Abstract In this report, we unveiled a new molecular design featuring the transformation of inefficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters into the efficient TADF emitters by combing them with non-TADF type chromophore units to develop deep-blue TADF emitters for organic light-emitting diodes. The inefficient TADF emitter and non-TADF chromophore were connected directly through a phenyl linker in a sterically hindered configuration by selectively interlocking two donors in the backbone structure. The new TADF emitter demonstrated excellent device performances with maximum external quantum efficiency up to 22% and y color coordinate of 0.15. Based on these results, we believe that the proposed new design strategy is effective with regard to the conversion of inefficient deep-blue TADF emitters to efficient deep-blue TADF emitters and can be diversely applied for the development of efficient TADF emitters.

Exploring the possibility of using fluorine-involved non-conjugated electron-withdrawing groups for thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters by TD-DFT calculation.

The trifluoromethyl group has been previously explored as a non-conjugated electron-withdrawing group in donor–acceptor thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters. In the present study, we investigate computationally the potential of other fluorine-containing acceptors, trifluoromethoxy (OCF3), trifluoromethylthio (SCF3), and pentafluorosulfanyl (SF5), within two families of donor–acceptor TADF emitters. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations indicate that when only two ortho-disposed carbazole donors are used (Type I molecules), the lowest-lying triplet state possesses locally excited (LE) character while the lowest-lying singlet state possesses charge-transfer character. When five carbazole donors are present in the emitter design (Type II molecules), now both S1 and T1 states possess CT character. For molecules 2CzOCF3 and 5CzOCF3, the singlet energies are predicted to be 3.92 eV and 3.45 eV; however, the singlet-triplet energy gaps, ΔESTs, are predicted to be large at 0.46 eV and 0.37 eV, respectively. The compounds 2CzCF3, 2CzSCF3, and 2CzSF5, from Type I molecules, show significant promise as deep blue TADF emitters, possessing high calculated singlet energies in the gas phase (3.62 eV, 3.66 eV, and 3.51 eV, respectively) and small, ΔESTs, of 0.17 eV, 0.22 eV, and 0.07 eV, respectively. For compounds 5CzSCF3 and 5CzSF5, from Type II molecules, the singlet energies are stabilized to 3.24 eV and 3.00 eV, respectively, while ΔESTs are 0.27 eV and 0.12 eV, respectively, thus both show promise as blue or sky-blue TADF emitters. All these six molecules possess a dense number of intermediate excited states between S1 and T1, thus likely leading to a very efficient reverse intersystem crossing in these compounds.

π-Conjugated polymeric light emitting diodes with sky-blue emission by employing thermally activated delayed fluorescence mechanism

Conjugated polymer light emitting diodes integrated with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) mechanism are attractive for display and illumination applications owing to their excellent device performance and convenient device fabrication. Whereas, there are rare reports on the conjugated TADF polymeric emitters with blue emission. Herein, a deep-blue TADF molecule, 2-(9,9-dimethyl acridan)-9,9-dimethylthioxanthene-S, S-dioxide, was incorporated into conjugated polymeric backbones through Suzuki coupling reaction with the host units of carbazole and triphenylamine derivatives to gain PCzDD-50 and PTDD-50, respectively. Despite of suffering from inevitable spectrum redshift and exciton concentration quenching, these two polymeric emitters could also exhibit sky-blue emission with the verified TADF characteristic. According to the molecular simulations and photophysical analysis, PCzDD-50 demonstrates relatively high-efficiency reverse intersystem crossing process and photoluminescence quantum yield, which can be partly ascribed to the enhanced spin orbit crossing interaction. In consistence with the PL properties, PCzDD-50 displays superior device performance with maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 8.2% and Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage coordinates of (0.22, 0.35). To our best knowledge, it is the highest EQE values ever reported for TADF conjugated polymers with sky-blue emission.

Highly Efficient Deep-Blue OLEDs using a TADF Emitter with a Narrow Emission Spectrum and High Horizontal Emitting Dipole Ratio.

New blue (DBA-SAB) and deep-blue (TDBA-SAF) thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters are synthesized for blue-emitting organic-light emitting diodes (OLEDs) by incorporating spiro-biacridine and spiro-acridine fluorene donor units with an oxygen-bridged boron acceptor unit, respectively. The molecules show blue and deep-blue emission because of the deep highest occupied molecular energy levels of the donor units. Besides, both emitters exhibit narrow emission spectra with the full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of less than 65nm due to the rigid donor and acceptor units. In addition, the long molecular structure along the transition dipole moment direction results in a high horizontal emitting dipole ratio over 80%. By combining the effects, the OLED utilizing DBA-SAB as the emitter exhibits a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 25.7% and 1931 Commission Internationale de l'éclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.144, 0.212). Even a higher efficiency deep blue TADF OLED with a maximum EQE of 28.2% and CIE coordinates of (0.142, 0.090) is realized using TDBA-SAF as the emitter.