Ab Initio Prediction of the Emission Color in Phosphorescent Iridium(III) Complexes for OLEDs

Efficient blue, green and red iridium(iii) complexes with noncovalently-linked pyrazole/pyrazolide rings for organic light-emitting diodes

Blue, green and red iridium(iii) complexes using a new pyrazole/pyrazolide ancillary ligand system, and their application in OLEDs with EQEs of up to 21.0% and low efficiency roll-off.

What accounts for the color purity of tetradentate Pt complexes? A computational analysis

In order to improve the texture of human visual perception and broaden the range of certain optical applications, many phosphorescent complexes exhibiting narrow emission spectra have been prepared through reasonable molecular design. For example, by adding a particular group such as tert-butyl (tbu) to a suitable position of PtON1 and PtON7, the peak width of a relevant vibronic band caused by the specific vibrational normal modes could be dramatically restrained in the emission spectra at room temperature. For the purpose of finding an effective approach to replace the trial-and-error manner, the microscopic mechanism of such high color purity was elucidated by computational investigation. In this study, we aim to identify the reason that causes sharp emission associated with the relevant vibrational normal modes. Here, these modes can be labeled to the emission peak by the vibrationally resolved emission spectra. Based on the displacement vectors of relevant normal modes and the vibrationally resolved spectra, the most possible reason for the higher color purity is that tbu in a specific location can restrain the structural deformation between the first triplet excited state (T₁) and the ground state (S₀). That is to say, the relevant Huang-Rhys factor (S_k) of specific vibrational modes would be decreased. For these compounds, the total bandwidth and the height of the intermediate and high-frequency regions which are in direct proportion to S_k would be decreased to obtain the higher color purity by tbu in a particular position. What is more, the best position for tbu in order to suppress the structural deformation was also considered. In the meantime, radiative (k_r) and nonradiative (k_nr) decay rates of T₁ were investigated to seek the effective phosphorescent complexes.

Exploring the effect of vibronic contributions on light harvesting efficiency of NKX-2587 derivatives through vibrationally resolved electronic spectra

The vibrationally resolved electronic spectra of five metal-free NKX-2587 derivatives containing heteroatom with different atomic sizes and electronegativity, were simulated within the Franck-Condon approximation including the Herzberg-Teller and Duschinsky effects, aimed at exploring the correlation of vibronic structure associated with the spectrum and efficiency of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The parameters of short-circuit current density (J_sc) and open circuit voltage (V_oc) involving efficiency of DSSCs, such as total dipole moments (μ_normal), the light harvesting efficiency (LHE), injection driving force (∆G_inject), and the number of electrons in the conduction band (n_c), were calculated and discussed in detail. Results showed that the heteroatoms in the same period with large size and weak electronegativity and the ones in the same main group with large size and weak electronegativity are beneficial to V_oc. The sizes and electronegativity of the heteroatoms have a weak effect on J_sc. The low-frequency modes play important roles in enhancing the intensities of the electronic spectra and structures can affect light harvesting efficiency (LHE). In this sense, our results provided guidance for understanding the sources of spectral intensities of dye molecules, and a valuable help for rational design of new molecules to improve the energy conversion efficiency (η) of DSSCs.

Disentangling vibronic and solvent broadening effects in the absorption spectra of coumarin derivatives for dye sensitized solar cells

Individuation of vibronic and solvent contributions to the spectra of a family of coumarin dyes helps to understand the main differences in their lineshapes.

FIrpic: archetypal blue phosphorescent emitter for electroluminescence

FIrpic is the most investigated bis-cyclometallated iridium complex. This Perspective reviews the main experimental and theoretical aspects of FIrpic as well as its use as sky-blue emitter for OLED.

Absorption and Emission Spectra of a Flexible Dye in Solution: a Computational Time-Dependent Approach

The spectroscopic properties of the organic chromophore 4-naphthoyloxy-1-methoxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine (NfO-TEMPO-Me) in toluene solution are explored through an integrated computational strategy combining a classical dynamic sampling with a quantum mechanical description within the framework of the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) approach. The atomistic simulations are based on an accurately parametrized force field, specifically designed to represent the conformational behavior of the molecule in its ground and bright excited states, whereas TDDFT calculations are performed through a selected combination of hybrid functionals and basis sets to obtain optical spectra closely matching the experimental findings. Solvent effects, crucial to obtain good accuracy, are taken into account through explicit molecules and polarizable continuum descriptions. Although, in the case of toluene, specific solvation is not fundamental, the detailed conformational sampling in solution has confirmed the importance of a dynamic description of the molecular geometry for a reliable description of the photophysical properties of the dye. The agreement between theoretical and experimental data is established and a robust protocol for the prediction of the optical behaviour of flexible fluorophores in solution is set.

Theory of excited state decays and optical spectra: application to polyatomic molecules

General formalism of absorption and emission spectra, and of radiative and nonradiative decay rates are derived using a thermal vibration correlation function formalism for the transition between two adiabatic electronic states in polyatomic molecules. Displacements, distortions, and Duschinsky rotation of potential energy surfaces are included within the framework of a multidimensional harmonic oscillator model. The Herzberg-Teller (HT) effect is also taken into account. This formalism gives a reliable description of the Q(x) spectral band of free-base porphyrin with weakly electric dipole-allowed transitions. For the strongly dipole-allowed transitions, e.g., S(1) --> S(0) and S(0) --> S(1) of linear polyacenes, anthracene, tetracene, and pentacene, the HT effect is found to enhance the radiative decay rates by approximately 10% compared to those without the HT effect. For nonradiative transition processes, a general formalism is presented to extend the application scope of the internal conversion theory by going beyond the promoting-mode approximation. Numerical calculations for the nonradiative S(1) --> S(0) decay rate of azulene well explain the origin of the violation of Kasha's rule. When coupled with first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the present approach appears to be an effective tool to obtain a quantitative description and detailed understanding of spectra and photophysical processes in polyatomic molecules.