Stable Organic Light-emitting Diodes Research Articles

Tailoring Ultra-Narrowband Tetraborylated Multiple Resonance Emitter for High-Performance Blue OLED.

Ultra-narrowband multiple resonance (MR) emitters are a key component in the fabrication of highly efficient and stable blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). To explore the theoretical boundaries of wavelength and full width at half maximum (FWHM) in blue emitters, the currently narrowest boron-based MR emitter is carefully designed by integrating the superior v-DABNA and BBCz-DB structures under the auspices of the ingenious short-range charge-transfer region regulation strategy. The target tetraboron compound TB-PB demonstrates a blue emission with an emission maximum of 473nm, a small FWHM of 12nm and a CIEy coordinate of 0.14. Benefiting from the emitter's high photoluminescence quantum yield (99%), low excited-state energy (2.74eV) and short delayed fluorescence lifetime (0.53µs), the corresponding OLED achieves exceptional efficiencies of 36.4%, 49.1cdA-1, and 51.4lmW-1 with a record-high luminescence of 9.0×105cdm-2, an ultra-narrow FWHM of 15nm and a CIEy coordinate of 0.20. These breakthroughs will accelerate the development of next-generation blue emitters and lead to the advancement of OLED technology.

Machine Learning-Driven precise design of stable OLED Materials: Predicting and enhancing Multi-State C-N bond dissociation energies

The intrinsic stability of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) materials critically hinges on the bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of fragile bonds, particularly C-N bonds. Despite the necessity of considering BDEs in multiple electronic states due to the complex working conditions of organic materials in OLED devices, comprehensive exploration remains challenging. Herein, we constructed a high-quality dataset, CNBDE-24, comprising nearly 1500 data points for BDEs across multiple electronic states, obtained through an active learning-guided density functional theory (DFT) calculation strategy. Machine learning models trained on the CNBDE-24 dataset exhibit excellent accuracy in predicting BDEs for OLED materials in neutral, triplet excited (T1), and anionic states, achieving an adjusted coefficient of determination exceeding 0.90 on the test set and bypassing the need for high-cost calculation. Moreover, utilizing neutral state BDEs as pre-training data significantly reduces model error and provides deeper insights into the relationships between different BDEs. We find that BDEs in neutral are influenced by the electronic properties of the nitrogen atom, as indicated by descriptors such as Gasteiger charges. Incorporating C-N bonds into aromatic systems and slightly dispersing N atom charges can inherently increase multi-state BDEs without altering luminescent properties. Additionally, anionic BDEs are determined by the extent of charge transfer during bond cleavage and can be regulated by modifying the C-side fragment. High-throughput virtual screening reveals a new stable purple emitter with a dominant 0–0 transition at 360 nm, which was validated through DFT and excited-state property evaluations. Strategies for enhancing BDEs in multiple resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence materials without altering excited-state properties are also demonstrated.

Isomer engineering of triptycene-fused multi-resonance TADF emitters: Implications for controlling blue electroluminescence performance

Concurrently achieving high efficiency, narrowband emission, and low efficiency roll-off remains a challenging task for realizing stable blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with high color purity. To tackle this issue, herein, two isomeric pairs of B,N-doped multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) emitters, namely, 2,3-Tp-BuDABNA-R and 3,4-Tp-BuDABNA-R (R=H, 3,5-Xyl), featuring triptycene (Tp) moieties fused into the 2,3- and 3,4-positions of the B,N core, respectively, are presented. Both isomeric forms exhibit blue emissions with near-unity photoluminescence (PL) quantum yields in their doped host films. Notably, the 3,4-Tp-fused emitter shows 6-fold faster reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) compared to the 2,3-Tp-fused emitter, albeit with PL spectral broadening. Along with a smaller activation energy of RISC, the stronger spin–orbit coupling between the singlet (S1) and triplet (T2) excited states of the 3,4-Tp-fused emitter is suggested to facilitate the RISC process. Furthermore, a high-frequency vibration in the Tp-fused benzene ring, accompanied by a large reorganization energy, is found to mainly contribute to the spectral broadening of the 3,4-Tp-fused emitter. Blue TADF-OLEDs based on each isomeric emitter similarly achieve a high maximum external quantum efficiency of ∼ 26%. Remarkably, the devices with the 3,4-isomer exhibit significantly reduced efficiency roll-offs compared to the 2,3-isomer, demonstrating that isomer engineering of MR emitters can have a distinct impact on controlling device performance.

The lifetime improvement of organic light‐emitting diodes with poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate on indium‐tin‐oxide surface and deuterated dopant in emitting layer

AbstractIn this study, the PEDOT:PSS conductive polymer material was spin‐coated on the ITO surface to improve the surface roughness of the ITO and reduce the spikes on the ITO surface, so as to avoid the burning spots generated in the green organic light emitting diode (OLED) when the voltage was applied to light it up. The OLED emitting is successfully survived. Deuterium atoms (isotopes of hydrogen) with heavier atomic weights can strengthen C‐D bonds, slow down the kinetic rate for unwarranted chemical reactions, and improve the performance and stability of OLEDs. In this study, deuterated D‐Ir (mppy)3 was employed as the dopant in the emitting layer of green OLED to replace the general Ir (mppy)3 to improve the optoelectronic properties and extend the lifetime of green OLED. At a constant voltage of 4 V, the initial luminance and half lifetime of general Ir (mppy)3 doped and deuterated D‐Ir (mppy)3 doped OLEDs are 188.1 cd/m2, 7.2 h and 438.3 cd/m2, 42.8 h, respectively. It is shown that doping the deuterated D‐Ir (mppy)3 material in the emitting layer has the effect of prolonging the lifetime of OLED. Compared with the general Ir (mppy)3, the lifetime of deuterated D‐Ir (mppy)3 doped OLED achieved an extension by 5.9 times.

Stable pure-green organic light-emitting diodes toward Rec.2020 standard

Manipulating dynamic behaviours of charge carriers and excitons in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is essential to simultaneously achieve high colour purity and superior operational lifetime. In this work, a comprehensive transient electroluminescence investigation reveals that incorporating a thermally activated delayed fluorescence assistant molecule with a deep lowest unoccupied molecular orbital into a bipolar host matrix effectively traps the injected electrons. Meanwhile, the behaviours of hole injection and transport are still dominantly governed by host molecules. Thus, the recombination zone notably shifts toward the interface between the emissive layer (EML) and the electron-transporting layer (ETL). To mitigate the interfacial carrier accumulation and exciton quenching, this bipolar host matrix could serve as a non-barrier functional spacer between EML/ETL, enabling the distribution of recombination zone away from this interface. Consequently, the optimized OLED exhibits a low driving voltage, promising device stability (95% of the initial luminance of 1000 cd m−2, LT95 > 430 h), and a high Commission Internationale de L’Éclairage y coordinate of 0.69. This indicates that managing the excitons through rational energy level alignment holds the potential for simultaneously satisfying Rec.2020 standard and achieving commercial-level stability.

Deterioration of Li-doped phenanthroline-based charge generation layer for tandem organic light-emitting diodes

Understanding the deterioration of the charge generation layer (CGL) is an uprising issue for efficient and stable tandem organic light-emitting diodes. Here, we comprehensively investigated the change in the electrical characteristics of Li-doped CGLs according to different stress conditions and compared the stability of Li diffusion in two phenanthroline-based electron transport materials. Through current density–voltage and capacitance-frequency measurements, it was revealed that electrical stress and thermal stress affect CGL’s electrical properties differently. Moreover, the exponential trap distribution model analysis informed that the Li diffusion is expedited toward narrowing depletion width in the CGL. Diffusion of Li and thermal effect to the diffusion was experimentally observed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depth profiling. We also evaluated variations in the operating voltage of tandem devices that differed only in nCGL. Overall, Li diffusion occurs more favorably in sparse Bphen film with weak binding energy rather than closely packed BPPB film with strong binding energy, which highlights that atomic geometry and morphological characteristics are crucial for the stability of tandem devices.

Deep-Blue and Fast Delayed Fluorescence from Carbene-Metal-Amides for Highly Efficient and Stable Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

Linear gold complexes of the "carbene-metal-amide" (CMA) type are prepared with a rigid benzoguanidine amide donor and various carbene ligands. These complexes emit in the deep-blue range at 424 and 466nm with 100% quantum yields in all media. The deep-blue thermally activates delayed fluorescence originates from a charge transfer state with an excited state lifetime as low as 213ns, resulting in fast radiative rates of 4.7×106s-1. The high thermal and photo-stability of these carbene-metal-amide (CMA) materials enabled the authors to fabricate highly energy-efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) in host-guest architectures. Deep-blue OLED devices with electroluminescence at 416 and 457nm with practical external quantum efficiencies of up to 23% at 100cdm-2 with excellent color coordinates CIE (x; y)=0.16; 0.07 and 0.17; 0.18 are reported. The operating stability of these OLEDs is the longest reported to date (LT50=1h) for deep-blue CMA emitters, indicating a high promise for further development of blue OLED devices. These findings inform the molecular design strategy and correlation between delayed luminescence with high radiative rates and CMA OLED device operating stability.

Application of carbazole derivatives as a multifunctional material for organic light-emitting devices

The object of research is newly synthesized carbazole-derived compounds and organic light-emitting structures based on them. The problem lies in the complex solution of scientific and technical problems of improving the characteristics and stability of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), namely improving the brightness and energy-efficient parameters. Organic light-emitting structures of blue, blue, and green radiation with color coordinates were formed by the thermovacuum sputtering method and the solution deposition method. The turn-on voltage of the white OLED is 6 V, the maximum brightness of the light-emitting structures was 10,000 cd/m2. The devices demonstrated a sufficiently high external quantum efficiency of 5 % to 7 %. This paper reports the multifunctional application of a simple donor-acceptor organic compound, as active and host material in the emission layer of organic light emitting devices. Em1 has been used as active components in OLEDs, where Em1 is the guest emitter (Device A), the acceptor part of the excited emitter (Device B) and the host matrix of the CdSeS/ZnS alloy quantum dot. At least four different OLEDs have been designed and characterized where Em1 plays the role of the guest emitter (Device C). The external quantum efficiencies of devices A–C are characterized by values common to pure fluorescent OLEDs (up to 5 % of the theoretical limit), but these devices sustain low-efficiency roll-off of electroluminescence over a wide range of current densities. Organic light-emitting diodes based on carbazole-derived compounds, due to their color characteristics, are promising candidates for use in the latest lighting systems. A separate advantage of the data light-emitting structures is a multifunctional application of one compound for different types of light-emitting structures. In addition, organic LEDs on based on carbazole-derived compounds have low energy consumption and are environmentally friendly due to the absence of toxic substances in their architecture, which creates prerequisites for saving energy resources and reducing the industrial burden on the environment.

Bright, efficient, and stable pure-green hyperfluorescent organic light-emitting diodes by judicious molecular design

To fulfill ultra-high-definition display, efficient and bright green organic light-emitting diodes with Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage y-coordinate ≥ 0.7 are required. Although there are some preceding reports of highly efficient devices based on pure-green multi-resonance emitters, the efficiency rolloff and device stabilities for those pure-green devices are still unsatisfactory. Herein, we report the rational design of two pure-green multi-resonance emitters for achieving highly stable and efficient pure-green devices with CIEx,ys that are close to the NTSC and BT. 2020 standards. In this study, our thermally activated delayed fluorescence OLEDs based on two pure-green multi-resonance emitters result in CIEy up to 0.74. In hyperfluorescent device architecture, the CIExs further meet the x-coordinate requirements, i.e., NTSC (0.21) and BT. 2020 (0.17), while keeping their CIEys ~ 0.7. Most importantly, hyperfluorescent devices display the high maximum external quantum efficiencies of over 25% and maximum luminance of over 105 cd m−2 with suppressed rolloffs (external quantum efficiency of ~20% at 104 cd m−2) and long device stabilities with LT95s of ~ 600 h.

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.

Modeling the carrier density in the exciton formation zone of organic light-emitting diode under high current injection

The carrier density in exciton formation zone is the electrical parameter most relevant to the stability of organic light-emitting diode: the decrease of carrier density improves the device stability. Here, based on the general mode of carrier device lifetimes, the carrier densities in the exciton formation zone of organic light-emitting diode have been calculated at current densities (J) ≥ 2.0 kA cm−2. With J increasing, the carrier density increases accordingly. At a given J, the carrier density decreases with the emissive layer’s thickness increasing, but increases with the emissive layer’s charge carrier mobilities. The increase of the energetic disorder of emissive layer leads to a marked decrease of carrier density. Increasing the hole (electron) mobility of hole (electron) transport layer helps reduce carrier density. The current research is believed very beneficial to the development of electrically pumped organic lasers.

Highly efficient ionic thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters with short exciton lifetimes towards High-Performance Solution-Processed OLEDs

Ionic thermally activated delayed fluorescence (iTADF) materials are newly emerging as promising candidates for constructing solution-processed electroluminescence devices. Developing iTADF materials with high emission efficiency, short exciton lifetime, and fast reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) is crucial for achieving stable and efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), but it remains challenging. Here we report two high-performance iTADF emitters, namely DMAC-TPPO[BF4] and DMAC-TPPS[BF4], which consist of a conventional acridine as the electron-donor and newly developed oxygen/sulfur-fused arylphosphonium derivatives as the electron-acceptor. DMAC-TPPO[BF4] and DMAC-TPPS[BF4] exhibit high photoluminescence quantum yields of 77 % and 83 %, coupled with short exciton lifetimes of 1.2 and 1.1 μs, and RISC rate constants reaching up to 2.60 × 106 and 2.73 × 106 s−1, respectively. Theoretical and experimental investigations demonstrate that the imbedding of bridging heteroatoms into the phosphonium cation is pivotal for enhancing emission efficiency through molecular skeleton rigidification, as well as for accelerating the RISC process by capitalizing on the non-metal heavy-atom effect. Eventually, solution-processed OLEDs utilizing DMAC-TPPS[BF4] realize a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 17.8 % and show a minor efficiency roll-off of 7.3 % (EQE = 16.5 %) even at a practical high luminance of 1000 cd/m2.

Narrowband Near-Infrared Multiple-Resonance Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters towards High-Performance and Stable Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

Multiple-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) materials are highly coveted for their high efficiency and narrowband emission in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Nevertheless, the development of near-infrared (NIR) MR-TADF emitters remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we design two new NIR MR-TADF emitters, PXZ-R-BN and BCz-R-BN, by embedding 10H-phenoxazine (PXZ) and 7H-dibenzo[c,g]carbazole (BCz) fragments to increase the electron-donating ability or extending π-conjugation on the framework of para-boron fusing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Both compounds emit in the NIR region, with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 49 nm (0.13 eV) for PXZ-R-BN and 43 nm (0.11 eV) for BCz-R-BN in toluene. To sensitize the two NIR MR-TADF emitters in OLEDs, a new platinum complex, Pt-1, is designed as a sensitizer. The PXZ-R-BN-based sensitized OLEDs achieve a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax ) of nearly 30 % with an emission band at 693 nm, and exceptional long operational stability with an LT97 (time to 97 % of the initial luminance) value of 39084 h at an initial radiance of 1000 mW sr-1 m-2 . The BCz-R-BN-based OLEDs reach EQEmax values of 24.2 % with an emission band at 713 nm, which sets a record value for NIR OLEDs with emission bands beyond 700 nm.

Improving electron transportation and operational lifetime of full color organic light emitting diodes through a "weak hydrogen bonding cage" structure.

Efficient electron-transporting materials (ETMs) are critical to achieving excellent performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), yet developing such materials remains a major long-term challenge, particularly ETMs with high electron mobilities (μeles). Herein, we report a short conjugated ETM molecule (PICN) with a dipolar phenanthroimidazole group, which exhibits an electron mobility of up to 1.52 × 10-4 cm2 (V-1 s-1). The origin of this high μele is long-ranged, regulated special cage-like interactions with C-H⋯N radii, which are also favorable for the excellent efficiency stability and operational stability in OLEDs. It is worth noting that the green phosphorescent OLED operation half-lifetimes can reach up to 630 h under unencapsulation, which is 20 times longer than that based on the commonly used commercial ETM TPBi.

Tetradentate Pt[O^N^C^N] complexes with peripheral diarylamino substituents for high-performance and stable green organic light-emitting diodes with LT95 of 17 140 h at 1000 cd m−2

Pt-based green OLEDs exhibit a maximum EQE of up to 29.6% and an LT95 of up to 17 140 hours at 1000 cd m−2.

Highly efficient and stable pure-red phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes based on heptacyclic bipolar hosts featuring an armor-like structure

The armor-like heptacyclic framework enhances the rigidity and stability of host materials named Hept-TRZ. The luminescent devices based on Hept-TRZ as the red host achieve high efficiency and long lifetime of PhOLEDs.

Sterically Hindered Tetradentate [Pt(O^N^C^N)] Emitters with Radiative Decay Rates up to 5.3 × 105 s-1 for Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with LT95 Lifetime over 9200 h at 1000cd m-2.

Described here are sterically hindered tetradentate [Pt(O^N^C^N)] emitters (Pt-1, Pt-2, and Pt-3) developed for stable and high-performance green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). These Pt(II) emitters exhibit strong saturated green phosphorescence (λmax = 517-531nm) in toluene and mCP thin films with emission quantum yields as high as 0.97, radiative rate constants (kr) as high as 4.4-5.3 × 105 s-1 and reduced excimer emission, and with a preferential horizontally oriented transition dipole ratio of up to 84%. Theoreticalcalculations show that p-(hetero)arene substituents at the periphery of the ligand scaffolds in Pt-1, Pt-2, and Pt-3 can i) enhance the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) between the lower singlet excited states and the T1 state, and S0→Sn (n = 1 or 2) transition dipole moment, and ii) introducing additional SOC activity and the bright 1ILCT[π(carbazole)→π*(N^C^N)] excited state (Pt-2 and Pt-3), which are the main contributors to the increased kr values. Utilizing these tetradentate Pt(II) emitters, green phosphorescent OLEDs are fabricated with narrow-band electroluminescence (FWHM down to 36nm), high external quantum efficiency, current efficiency up to 27.6% and 98.7cd A-1, and an unprecedented device lifetime (LT95) of up to 9270 h at 1000cd m-2 under laboratory conditions.

Enhancing operational stability of OLEDs based on subatomic modified thermally activated delayed fluorescence compounds

The realization of operationally stable blue organic light-emitting diodes is a challenging issue across the field. While device optimization has been a focus to effectively prolong device lifetime, strategies based on molecular engineering of chemical structures, particularly at the subatomic level, remains little. Herein, we explore the effect of targeted deuteration on donor and/or acceptor units of thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters and investigate the structure-property relationship between intrinsic molecular stability, based on isotopic effect, and device operational stability. We show that the deuteration of the acceptor unit is critical to enhance the photostability of thermally activated delayed fluorescence compounds and hence device lifetime in addition to that of the donor units, which is commonly neglected due to the limited availability and synthetic complexity of deuterated acceptors. Based on these isotopic analogues, we observe a gradual increase in the device operational stability and achieve the long-lifetime time to 90% of the initial luminance of 23.4 h at the luminance of 1000 cd m−2 for thermally activated delayed fluorescence-sensitized organic light-emitting diodes. We anticipate our strategic deuteration approach provides insights and demonstrates the importance on structural modification materials at a subatomic level towards prolonging the device operational stability.

Extremely stable deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes employing diindolophenazine-based fluorophore with narrow-band emission and a shallow LUMO level

Extremely stable deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes employing diindolophenazine-based fluorophore with narrow-band emission and a shallow LUMO level

Efficient and stable green organic light-emitting diode utilizing an asymmetric butterfly-shaped chromophore with enhanced reverse intersystem crossing and suppressed exciton annihilation

Intermolecular electron-exchange interactions involving long-lived triplet state excitons dominate the quenching process of the films. In this work, a butterfly-shaped thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitter 10,10′-(5-((3,5-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)sulfonyl)-1,3-phenylene)bis(9,9-dimethyl-9,10-dihydroacridine) (BCZ-DPS-BAD) with diphenylsulfone skeleton is constructed by modulating the rigid steric hindrance on the electron donor fragment to weaken intermolecular electron-exchange interactions. Analysis of the ground and excited state properties, crystal structure, steady-state and transient photophysical characteristics reveals that BCZ-DPS-BAD exhibits loose intermolecular arrangements with no direct facing close packing and weak π–π interactions of 4.18 Å and 4.67 Å. The triplet state excitons can swiftly return to the single exciton state in accordance with a short delayed fluorescence lifetime (2.3 μs) and a quick reverse intersystem crossing rate (1.85 × 106 s−1), obstructing the way for the triplet state to lose energy. A remarkable maximum external quantum efficiency of 21.8 %, maximum current efficiency of 56.8 cd/A and exciton utilization rate of 82 % is achieved for BCZ-DPS-BAD-based green non-doped OLED, concomitant with Commission Internationale d'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.30, 0.50). Notably, BCZ-DPS-BAD behaves stable non-doped OLED performance with efficiency roll-off of 4 % at 1000 cd m−2.