High Triplet Energy Research Articles

Naphthalene-Arylamine starburst architectures: Novel hole transport materials for enhanced OLED performance

The excellent hole transfer material (HTM) is beneficial to improve the stability of the device, reduce turn-on voltage(Von) and make full use of the potential performance of the developed emissive materials. In this work, we designed and synthesized four HTMs with triarylamine and naphthalene compounds - SHT1- SHT4. The characteristics of these four compounds were investigated by TGA, DSC. UV–vis absorption and photoluminescence spectra. These four HTMs all exhibit excellent hole transmission capability for their high triplet energy levels (ET), outstanding thermal property, morphological stabilities and appropriate highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels with emissive layer (EML). Four top-emission blue OLEDs with SHT1 - SHT4 as hole transport layer (HTL) were fabricated and show good electroluminescence (EL) property. The results show that the device incorporating SHT3 exhibit the best device performances with a low Von of 2.79 V, external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 19.7 %, highest current efficiency (CEmax) and highest Power efficiency (PEmax) of 8.86 cd A−1 and 9.05 lm/W, respectively.

Heteroatom‐Embedded Spiro[Fluorene‐9,9′‐Xanthene]‐Based Electron Transport Materials for Improved Driving Voltage and Efficiency in Phosphorescent Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes

AbstractThe organic material 9,9‐spirobifluorene (SBF) is a useful building block for the construction of organic light‐emitting diodes owing to its rigid molecular structure, good charge transport properties, and high triplet energy. However, the electron transport properties of the SBF‐derived electron transport materials (ETMs) are currently not good enough and should be improved. In this work, two ETMs derived from spiro[fluorene‐9,9′‐xanthene] (SFX) and spiro[cyclopenta[1,2‐b:5,4‐b′] dipyridine‐5,9′‐xanthene] (SPX) is developed to enhance the electron transport properties and triplet energy of the SBF‐derived ETMs. The SFX core can increase the triplet energy by disconnecting the conjugation on the xanthene part and SPX can improve the electron transport properties through the incorporation of two nitrogen atoms in the fluorene part of the SFX core. The SFX and SPX cores are substituted with diphenyltriazine to produce high mobility and high triplet energy ETMs. As a result, the SFX and SPX‐based ETMs showed high triplet energy of over 2.95 eV compared with 2.53 eV of the SBF‐derived ETM; in addition, the SPX‐derived ETM demonstrated higher mobility than the SBF‐derived ETM. As a result, the SPX‐derived ETM achieved lowered driving voltage and increased external quantum efficiency compared to other ETMs derived from SBF and SFX.

Blue-emission crystalline OLED doped with DMAC-DPS TADF material

Doping thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials with high exciton utilization into crystalline hosts with high carrier mobility is an effective approach for developing novel OLEDs. This approach harnesses the strengths of both materials to realize high-performance blue light-emitting crystalline organic light-emitting diodes (C-OLEDs). Nevertheless, the high triplet energy levels of blue emitting TADF materials may facilitate the outflow of triplet excitons through Dexter energy transfer to the lower energy levels within the crystalline host, thus leading to efficiency losses in the device. In this study, we present a pioneering strategy designed to improve the exciton utilization efficiency of TADF materials in C-OLED by leveraging the up-conversion capability of TTA materials to reclaim triplet excitons. With a well-designed energy level structure, this device achieves a maximum EQE of 5.6 % and a low turn-on voltage of 2.7 V. The benefits of the crystalline host allowed for fast turn-on, and a rapid increase in brightness and current density, leading to significantly improved blue photon output and a lower series resistance Joule heat loss ratio. This work introduces a novel approach to employ TADF materials in crystalline hosts and manage excitons within the emissive layer of devices, aiming to develop high-performance C-OLEDs.

High efficiency in blue TADF OLED using favorable horizontal oriented host

An appropriate host featuring a wide band gap (Eg) and high triplet energy (T1) is crucial for facilitating highly efficient blue-light emitting devices. In this study, 4Ac26CzBz, a new host comprising acridan and carbazole moieties linked to a benzimidazole core, has been synthesized and characterized. Notedly, 4Ac26CzBz exhibits a wide optical gap (Eg) and high triplet energy (T1) of 3.3 and 3.0 eV, respectively, and has been proven a suitable host for blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) OLED. By adopting 4TCzBN as a blue-light dopant, a remarkably high device external quantum efficiency of 35.8 % (59.8 cd/A and 62.8 lm/W) and a low turn-on voltage (<3 eV) have been demonstrated, with significant suppression of the efficiency roll-off, maintaining a high efficiency of 29.7 % as luminance at 1000 cd/m2. This excellent performance is deduced from the host’s ambipolar carrier transporting properties, which refer to its ability to transport both electrons and holes effectively, high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 98.6 %, and highly horizontal orientation of transition dipole, as determined through diverse analytical measurements. The good material properties of 4Ac26CzBz and the high OLED performance reveal its potential for the next generation’s advanced display and lighting applications.

Photoredox Catalytic Deracemization Enabled Enantioselective and Modular Access to Axially Chiral N-Arylquinazolinones.

Visible light-driven photocatalytic deracemization is highly esteemed as an ideal tool for organic synthesis due to its exceptional atom economy and synthetic efficiency. Consequently, successful instances of deracemization of allenes have been established, where the activated energy of photosensitizer should surpass that of the substrates, representing an intrinsic requirement. Accordingly, this method is not applicable for axially chiral molecules with significantly high triplet energies. In this study, we present a photoredox catalytic deracemization approach that enables the efficient synthesis of valuable yet challenging-to-access axially chiral 2-azaarene-functionalized quinazolinones. The substrate scope is extensive, allowing for both 3-axis and unmet 1-axis assembly through facile oxidation of diverse central chiral 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones that can be easily prepared and achieve enantiomer enrichment via deracemization. Mechanistic studies reveal the importance of photosensitizer selection in attaining excellent chemoselectivity and highlight the indispensability of a chiral Brønsted acid in enabling highly enantioselective protonation to accomplish efficient deracemization.

Photoredox Catalytic Deracemization Enabled Enantioselective and Modular Access to Axially Chiral N‐Arylquinazolinones

AbstractVisible light‐driven photocatalytic deracemization is highly esteemed as an ideal tool for organic synthesis due to its exceptional atom economy and synthetic efficiency. Consequently, successful instances of deracemization of allenes have been established, where the activated energy of photosensitizer should surpass that of the substrates, representing an intrinsic requirement. Accordingly, this method is not applicable for axially chiral molecules with significantly high triplet energies. In this study, we present a photoredox catalytic deracemization approach that enables the efficient synthesis of valuable yet challenging‐to‐access axially chiral 2‐azaarene‐functionalized quinazolinones. The substrate scope is extensive, allowing for both 3‐axis and unmet 1‐axis assembly through facile oxidation of diverse central chiral 2,3‐dihydroquinazolin‐4(1H)‐ones that can be easily prepared and achieve enantiomer enrichment via deracemization. Mechanistic studies reveal the importance of photosensitizer selection in attaining excellent chemoselectivity and highlight the indispensability of a chiral Brønsted acid in enabling highly enantioselective protonation to accomplish efficient deracemization.

Spirobifluorene Trimers: High Triplet Pure Hydrocarbon Hosts for Highly Efficient Blue Phosphorescent Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes

AbstractPure aromatic hydrocarbon materials (PHCs) represent a new generation of host materials for phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs), free of heteroatoms. They reduce the molecular complexity, can be easily synthesized and are an important direction towards robust devices. As heteroatoms can be involved in bonds dissociations in operating OLEDs through exciton induced degradation processes, developing novel PHCs appear particularly relevant for the future of this technology. In the present work, we report a series of extended PHCs constructed by the assembly of three spirobifluorene fragments. The resulting positional isomers present a high triplet energy level, a wide HOMO/LUMO difference and improved thermal and morphological properties compared to previously reported PHCs. These characteristics are beneficial for the next generation of host materials for PhOLEDs and provide relevant design guidelines. When used as a host in blue‐emitting PhOLEDs, which are still the weakest link of the field, a very high EQE of 24 % and low threshold voltage of 3.56 V were obtained with a low‐efficiency roll‐off. This high performance strengthens the position of PHC strategy as an efficient alternative for OLED technology and opens the way to a more simple electronic.

Spirobifluorene Trimers: High Triplet Pure Hydrocarbon Hosts for Highly Efficient Blue Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

Pure aromatic hydrocarbon materials (PHCs) represent a new generation of host materials for phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs), free of heteroatoms. They reduce the molecular complexity, can be easily synthesized and are an important direction towards robust devices. As heteroatoms can be involved in bonds dissociations in operating OLEDs through exciton induced degradation processes, developing novel PHCs appear particularly relevant for the future of this technology. In the present work, we report a series of extended PHCs constructed by the assembly of three spirobifluorene fragments. The resulting positional isomers present a high triplet energy level, a wide HOMO/LUMO difference and improved thermal and morphological properties compared to previously reported PHCs. These characteristics are beneficial for the next generation of host materials for PhOLEDs and provide relevant design guidelines. When used as a host in blue-emitting PhOLEDs, which are still the weakest link of the field, a very high EQE of 24 % and low threshold voltage of 3.56 V were obtained with a low-efficiency roll-off. This high performance strengthens the position of PHC strategy as an efficient alternative for OLED technology and opens the way to a more simple electronic.

Unexplored Exciplex Formation by Dual Excitation of Donor and Acceptor Layers Optically and Electrically

AbstractElectron donor and acceptor interactions are the fundamentals for the emergence of optoelectronic functions in most organic devices. In particular, exciplexes, which hold the possibility to utilize dark triplets, are widely investigated in organic light‐emitting diodes. However, the relatively low radiative decay rate with a low photoluminescence quantum yield poses further advanced challenges. Traditionally, it is well recognized that exciplexes are formed through a charge transfer process, i.e., direct electron transfer, by photoexciting either a donor or an acceptor component. In this study, the focus is on a long‐range exciplex system where tris(4‐carbazoyl‐9‐ylphenyl)amine (TCTA) and 2,4,6‐tris[3‐(diphenylphosphinyl)phenyl]−1,3,5‐triazine (PO‐T2T) serve as the donor and acceptor, respectively. Moreover, 1,2‐bis(triphenylsilyl) benzene (UGH2) and bis[2‐(diphenylphosphino)phenyl]ether oxide (DPEPO), having a wide energy gap and a high triplet energy level, are employed as the double insulating layer to suppressing direct electron transfer between the donor and acceptor. The indirect through‐space exciplex formation is demonstrated by the simultaneous excitation of both donor and acceptor layers optically and electrically, providing a new route for exciplex formation.

Blue Phosphorescent Pt(II) Compound Based on Tetradentate Carbazole/2,3'-Bipyridine Ligand and Its Application in Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

The tetradentate ligand, merging a carbazole unit with high triplet energy and dimethoxy bipyridine, renowned for its exceptional quantum efficiency in coordination with metals like Pt, is expected to demonstrate remarkable luminescent properties. However, instances of tetradentate ligands such as bipyridine-based pyridylcarbazole derivatives remain exceptionally scarce in the current literature. In this study, we developed a tetradentate ligand based on carbazole and 2,3'-bipyridine and successfully complexed it with Pt(II) ions. This novel compound (1) serves as a sky-blue phosphorescent material for use in light-emitting diodes. Based on single-crystal X-ray analysis, compound 1 has a distorted square-planar geometry with a 5/6/6 backbone around the Pt(II) core. Bright sky-blue emissions were observed at 488 and 516 nm with photoluminescent quantum yields of 34% and a luminescent lifetime of 2.6 μs. TD-DFT calculations for 1 revealed that the electronic transition was mostly attributed to the ligand-centered (LC) charge transfer transition with a small contribution from the metal-to-ligand charge transfer transition (MLCT, ~14%). A phosphorescent organic light-emitting device was successfully fabricated using this material as a dopant, along with 3'-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-1,1'-biphenyl (mCBP) and 9-(3'-carbazol-9-yl-5-cyano-biphenyl-3-yl)-9H-carbazole-3-carbonitrile (CNmCBPCN) as mixed hosts. A maximum quantum efficiency of 5.2% and a current efficiency of 15.5 cd/A were obtained at a doping level of 5%.

Hexacarbazolylbenzene: An Excellent Host Molecule Causing Strong Guest Molecular Orientation and the High-Performance OLEDs.

Hexacarbazolylbenzene (6CzPh), which is benzene substituted by six carbazole rings, is a simple and attractive compound. Despite the success of a wide variety of carbazole derivatives in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), 6CzPh has not received attention so far. Here, excellent performances of 6CzPh are revealed as a host material in OLEDs regarding conventional host materials. Various strategies are implemented to improve the performance of OLEDs, e.g., triplet utilization by thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and phosphorescence emitters for maximizing internal quantum efficiency, and molecular orientation control for increasing outcoupling efficiency. The present host material is suited for both criteria. Robustness of the structure and sufficiently high triplet energy enables a high external quantum efficiency with a long device lifetime. Besides, the host material boosts the horizontal molecular orientations of several guest emitters. It is noteworthy that disk-shaped 4CzIPN marks the complete horizontal molecular orientations (Θh = 100%, S = -0.50). These results provide an effective way of improving efficiencies without sacrificing device durability for future OLEDs.

Thiocarbonyl-Bridged N-Heterotriangulenes for Energy Efficient Triplet Photosensitization: A Theoretical Perspective.

Structurally-rigid metal-free organic molecules are of high demand for various triplet harvesting applications. However, inefficient intersystem crossing (ISC) due to large singlet-triplet gap ( ) and small spin-orbit coupling (SOC) between lowest excited singlet and triplet often limits their efficiency. Excited electronic states, fluorescence and ISC rates in several thiocarbonyl-bridged N-heterotriangulene ( S-HTG) with systematically increased thione content ( 0-3) are investigated implementing polarization consistent time-dependent optimally-tuned range-separated hybrid. All S-HTGs are dynamically stable and also thermodynamically feasible to synthesize. Relative energies of several low-lying singlets ( ) and triplets ( ), and their excitation nature (i. e., or ) and SOC are determined for these S-HTGs in dichloromethane. Low-energy optical peak displays gradual red-shift with increasing thione content due to relatively smaller electronic gap resulted from greater degree of orbital delocalization. Significantly large SOC due to different orbital-symmetry and heavy-atom effect produces remarkably high ISC rates ( ~1012 s-1) for enthalpically favoured ( ) channel in these S-HTGs, which outcompete radiative fluorescence rates (~108 s-1) even directly from higher lying optically bright singlets. Importantly, high energy triplet excitons of ~1.7 eV resulting from such significantly large ISC rates from non-fluorescent make these thiocarbonylated HTGs ideal candidates for energy efficient triplet harvest including triplet-photosensitization.

P‐215: Emission Mechanism‐Tunned Fused Indolo[3,2,1‐jk]carbazole‐based Multiple Resonance Emitters for Long Device Operational Lifetime

In blue organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs), the importance of terminal emitters, which determine device operational characteristics, has been grown. Although multiple resonance (MR) type emitters can provide high color purity and high device efficiency, the high triplet energy (ET) of emitters often cause issues on long‐term device operation. In this work, as a solution to implementing stable operation of blue OLEDs, novel emission‐mechanism‐tuned MR type emitters were developed based on fused indolo[3,2,1‐jk]carbazole framework. The molecular structural changes effectively stabilized the ET while maintaining the narrow emission bandwidth. The fabricated blue fluorescent OLED recorded a highquantum efficiency in deep‐blue region of CIEy of 0.075 and device lifetime twice longer than a typical boron type dopant based device. This research establishes the emitter design strategy for extended blue OLEDs.

Organophotocatalytic or Electrophotocatalytic Reduction and Functionalization Reactions with a Thioxanthone-TfOH Complex Catalyst

AbstractThioxanthone has long been a prominent catalyst in the field of photocatalysis, owing to its high triplet energy and long triplet lifetime that render it suitable for energy transfer reactions. However, its low oxidation potential and short singlet lifetime have posed challenges when employing it for electron-transfer reactions. This account summarizes our efforts in developing a potent and long-lived thioxanthone-TfOH complex (9-HTXTF) catalyst, and its application in energy-demanding redox transformations such as organophotocatalytic or electrophotocatalytic reduction and functionalization reactions.1 Introduction2 Discovery and Properties of the Catalyst 9-HTXTF3 Organophotocatalysis4 Electrophotocatalysis5 Conclusion

An n-type host with a high triplet energy level and wide bandgap for RGB phosphorescent OLEDs

We applied 4,6-Bis(3,5-di(pyridin-2-yl)phenyl)-2-methylpyrimidine (B2PyMPM), a material with a wide bandgap and excellent electron mobility, as the host for the emissive layer in red, green, and blue organic phosphorescence-emitting devices. In the case of red emission, it exhibited a stable and outstanding external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 10.2% along with color coordinates (0.68, 0.31), indicating its potential as a candidate material for smartphone displays. For green and blue emissions, relatively low electroluminescence characteristics were observed due to insufficient energy transfer. With a high triplet energy level (T1) of 2.89 eV, B2PyMPM holds promise for use with other phosphorescent dopants in the future.

Activated Singlet Fission Dictated by Anti-Kasha Property in a Rylene Imide Dye.

A key challenge in the search of new materials capable of singlet fission (SF) arises from the primary energy conservation criterion, i.e., the energy of the triplet exciton has to be half that of the singlet (E(S1) ≥ 2E(T1)), which excludes most photostable organic materials from consideration and confines the design strategy to materials with low energy triplet states. One potential way to overcome this energy requirement and improve the triplet energy is to enable a SF channel from higher energy ("hot") excitonic states (Sn) in a process called activated SF. Herein, we demonstrate that efficient activated SF is achieved in a rylene imide-based derivative acenaphth[l, 2-a]acenaphthylene diimide (AADI). This process is enabled by an increase in the energy gap to greater than 1.0 eV between the S3 and S1 states due to the incorporation of an antiaromatic pentalene unit, which leads to the emergence of anti-Kasha properties in the isolated molecule. Transient spectroscopy studies show that AADI undergoes ultrafast SF from higher singlet excited states in thin film, with excitation wavelength-dependent SF yields. The SF yield of ∼200% is observed upon higher energy excitation, and long-lived free triplets persist on the μs time scale suggesting that AADI can be used in SF-enhanced devices. Our results suggest that enlarging the Sn-S1 energy gap is an effective way to turn on the activated SF channel and shed light on the development of novel, stable SF materials with high triplet energies.

Novel indolocarbazole-based bipolar host materials for fabricating green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with high efficiency and low roll-off

Herein we report two novel host materials, viz., 2-(dibenzo [b,d]furan-2-yl)indolo [3,2,1-jk]carbazole (ICz-DBF) and 3-(indolo [3,2,1-jk]carbazol-2-yl)furo [2,3-b:5,4-b']dipyridine (ICz-PFP), for fabricating highly stable and efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Green phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs) based on ICz-DBF and ICz-PFP exhibited less efficiency roll-off than those based on 4,4′-bis(N-carbazolyl)-1,1′-biphenyl (CBP) host, and especially, the ICz-DBF-based device achieved a high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 20.5 %. Bipolar hosts composed of indolocarbazole (ICz) exhibit strong molecular rigidity, high triplet energy, and fast electron transport properties; therefore, they act as acceptors, but dibenzofuran (DBF) and dipyridofuran (PFP) substitutions endow them with controlled electron-donating characteristics. The bipolar properties of the new host materials were demonstrated by single-carrier device analysis, confirming the effectiveness of our research strategy for developing hosts for high-quality OLEDs.

Evidence of Short-Lived High-Energy Emissive State and Triplet Character of the Self-Trapped Exciton in Cs3Cu2I5 Perovskite.

Cs3Cu2I5 perovskite displays a Stokes-shifted photoluminescence (PL) at 445 nm, attributed to the self-trapped excitons (STEs). Unlike that observed in other perovskite materials, the free-exciton emission is not evidenced in this case. Herein, we reveal the existence of a short-lived high-energy emission centered around 375 nm through the reconstruction of time-resolved emission spectra (TRES), which is independent of the shape/size of Cs3Cu2I5 perovskite. This high-energy emission is proposed to originate from the free-exciton-derived distorted S1 state of the 0D Cs3Cu2I5 moiety. Moreover, STE PL (∼445 nm) was found to have phosphorescence characteristics. Theoretical calculation confirms a facile intersystem crossing at the Franck-Condon geometry, indicating the high lifetime of the STE and its triplet nature. The existence of a high-energy emissive state and the phosphorescent nature of the STE PL band provide valuable insights that could advance our understanding of the photophysics in these materials.

Combined Nucleophilic and Electrophilic Functionalization to Optimize Blue Phosphorescence in Cyclometalated Platinum Complexes.

Ligand-based functionalization strategies have emerged as powerful approaches to tune and optimize blue phosphorescence, which can involve nucleophilic addition to coordinated ligands or electrophilic functionalization via the coordination of exogenous Lewis acids. Whereas both have been used separately to enhance the photophysical properties of organometallic compounds with high-energy triplet states, in this work, we show that these two strategies can be used together on the same platform. Isocyanide-supported cyclometalated platinum compounds undergo nucleophilic addition with diethylamine to form a strong σ-donor acyclic diaminocarbene-supporting ligand. In a subsequent step, a cyanide ancillary ligand is converted into a more strongly π-acidic isocyanoborate via the coordination of a borane Lewis acid. Importantly, both of these ligand-based functionalization steps improve the quantum yields and lifetimes of the blue-phosphorescent complexes. This synergy results in complexes with photoluminescence quantum yields up to 0.40 for deep blue and 0.75 for sky blue regions and PL lifetimes on the order of 10-5 s.

Singlet Fission in a New Series of Systematically Designed Through-space Coupled Tetracene Oligomers.

Singlet fission (SF) holds great promise for current photovoltaic technologies, where tetracenes, with their relatively high triplet energies, play a major role for application in silicon-based solar cells. However, the SF efficiencies in tetracene dimers are low due to the unfavorable energetics of their singlet and triplet energy levels. In the solid state, tetracene exhibits high yields of triplet formation through SF, raising great interest about the underlying mechanisms. To address this discrepancy, we designed and prepared a novel molecular system based on a hexaphenylbenzene core decorated with 2 to 6 tetracene chromophores. The spatial arrangement of tetracene units, induced by steric hindrance in the central part, dictates through-space coupling, making it a relevant model for solid-state chromophore organization. We then revealed a remarkable increase in SF quantum yield with the number of tetracenes, reaching quantitative (196 %) triplet pair formation in hexamer. We observed a short-lived correlated triplet pair and limited magnetic effects, indicating ineffective triplet dissociation in these through-space coupled systems. These findings emphasize the crucial role of the number of chromophores involved and the interchromophore arrangement for the SF efficiency. The insights gained from this study will aid designing more efficient and technology-compatible SF systems for applications in photovoltaics.