Highly Efficient Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Using Benzo[4',5']imidazo[2',1':2,3]imidazo[4,5,1-jk]carbazole as a Rigid and Effective Electron Acceptor in Bipolar Host

A novel bipolar host architecture was investigated to improve the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs). The host was developed by incorporating carbazole as a hole-transport unit and fused rigid benzo[4',5']imidazo[2',1':2,3]imidazo[4, 5, 1-jk]carbazole (BzICz) as a new electron transport unit. The primary goal of the BzICz-based host design was to achieve a high triplet energy and bipolar charge transport characteristics. The green PhOLEDs fabricated using the new BzICz and carbazole-based host demonstrated a high EQE of 26.6% due to their high triplet energy and good bipolar charge transporting characteristics.

Highly Efficient Simple-Structure Sky-Blue Organic Light-Emitting Diode Using a Bicarbazole/Cyanopyridine Bipolar Host

Up to now, the most efficient blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode (PhOLED) was achieved with a maximum external quantum efficiency (η_ext) of 34.1% by using an exciplex cohost. It still remains a challenge to obtain such high efficiencies using a single-host matrix. In this work, a highly efficient sky-blue PhOLED is successfully fabricated using a newly developed bipolar host material, namely 5-(2-(9H-[3,9'-bicarbazol]-9-yl)phenyl)nicotinonitrile (o-PyCNBCz), which realizes a η_ext of 29.4% at a practical luminance of 100 cd m^-2 and a maximum η_ext of 34.6% (at 23 cd m^-2). The present device is characterized by simple configuration with a single host and single emitting layer. o-PyCNBCz also reveals high efficiency of 28.2% (94.8 cd A^-1) when used as the host for green PhOLED. Under identical conditions, o-PyCNBCz always outperforms than its isomer 3-PyCNBCz (5-(9-phenyl-9H-[3,9'-bicarbazol]-6-yl)nicotinonitrile) in terms of more balanced charge transportation, higher photoluminescent quantum yields of over 90%, and higher horizontal orientation ratio of the emitting dipole for the host-dopant films, which finally lead to its superior performance in PhOLEDs. It is observed that all these merits of o-PyCNBCz benefit from its ortho-linking style of carbazole (p-type unit) and cyanopyridine (n-type unit) on the phenylene bridge and the resultant molecular conformation.

A novel spiro-annulated benzimidazole host for highly efficient blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices

A novel host featuring a spiro-annulated benzimidazole configuration is exploited for blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices (PhOLEDs).

Hybrid host materials for highly efficient electrophosphorescence and thermally activated delayed fluorescence independent of the linkage mode

Three non-conjugated bipolar hybrid host materials with different molecular structures but similar optoelectronic properties have been synthesized and characterized.

Computational design of high efficiency nonplanar tri-s-triazine-based ambipolar host materials for phosphorescent blue emitters

A series of nonplanar tri-s-triazine-based molecules were designed, and their optical, electronic, and charge transport properties as ambipolar host materials for blue electrophosphorescence emitters were explored by density functional theory. The influence of the linkage between tri-s-triazine and carbazole, diphenylamine and triphenylamine, as well as the influence of a series of electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents on triplet energy, energy level matching and charge transport of the designed molecules was discussed in detail. Our results reveal that the molecules under investigation can serve as host materials for blue electrophosphorescence emitters. We also predicted the mobility of designed molecules with better performance in the P1[combining macron] space group. Based on the investigated results, we proposed a rational way for the design of host materials for OLEDs, and also expanded the application field of tri-s-triazine.

Simple Bipolar Host Materials for High-Efficiency Blue, Green, and White Phosphorescence OLEDs

3-(1H-Pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine is used as electron-transporting unit to construct bipolar host materials o-CzPyPz, m-CzPyPz, and p-CzPyPz for application in phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs). By varying the ortho-, meta-, or para-linking mode between the n-type 3-(1H-pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine and the p-type carbazole on phenylene bridge, the optoelectronic parameters are tuned to large extent. The highly twisted o-CzPyPz has high triplet energy of 2.95 eV, while the isomer p-CzPyPz with more coplanar conformation has smaller triplet energy of 2.67 eV. The m-CzPyPz-hosted blue PhOLED exhibits a peak current efficiency of 49.1 cd A(-1) (corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of 24.5%) and low-efficiency roll-off, while the p-CzPyPz-hosted green PhOLEDs turns on at 2.8 V and exhibits high efficiencies of 91.8 cd A(-1) (96.1 lm W(-1) and 27.3%). Furthermore, two-emitting-layer white OLEDs are fabricated with m-CzPyPz or p-CzPyPz as common hosts for both blue and orange phosphors, which realize high efficiencies of 57.8 cd A(-1) (45.4 lm W(-1) and 23.6%) and 60.7 cd A(-1) (38.1 lm W(-1) and 23.1%). The optimization of host structure for good matching of host and dopant and finally for the ideal performance is discussed.

Bis(2-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-5-fluorophenolate)beryllium: a high-performance electron transport material for phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices

A beryllium complex with a low-lying LUMO level, high triplet energy and high electron mobility served as an excellent electron transport material for green, yellow and red phosphorescent OLEDs.

Functionalization of phosphorescent emitters and their host materials by main-group elements for phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices

Phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) have attracted increased attention from both academic and industrial communities due to their potential practical application in high-resolution full-color displays and energy-saving solid-state lightings. The performance of phosphorescent OLEDs is mainly limited by the phosphorescent transition metal complexes (such as iridium(III), platinum(II), gold(III), ruthenium(II), copper(I) and osmium(II) complexes, etc.) which can play a crucial role in furnishing efficient energy transfer, balanced charge injection/transporting character and high quantum efficiency in the devices. It has been shown that functionalized main-group element (such as boron, silicon, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen, sulfur and fluorine, etc.) moieties can be incorporated into phosphorescent emitters and their host materials to tune their triplet energies, frontier molecular orbital energies, charge injection/transporting behavior, photophysical properties and thermal stability and hence bring about highly efficient phosphorescent OLEDs. So, in this review, the recent advances in the phosphorescent emitters and their host materials functionalized with various main-group moieties will be introduced from the point of view of their structure-property relationship. The main emphasis lies on the important role played by the main-group element groups in addressing the key issues of both phosphorescent emitters and their host materials to fulfill high-performance phosphorescent OLEDs.

Identifying efficient blue-phosphorescent polymer light-emitting diode host materials based on carbazole derivatives with C/Si-centered substituents using density functional theory

Two series of carbazole derivatives were designed and studied that could potentially be used in polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) as host molecules. These carbazole-based host molecules incorporated substituents with C or Si at their centers at the 3- and 6-positions on the carbazole moiety. Density functional theory calculations were performed to investigate the influence of the substituent on energy and charge transfer, and to predict whether each molecule could act as an effective host material in PLEDs. The results show that, for the series in which the carbazole moiety is linked to the substituent via the central C/Si atom ("cbz-sub series"), triplet-state electron transitions and triplet excitons arise from the carbazole moiety. Members of the cbz-sub series also exhibited higher triplet energies (ET) than the series in which the carbazole moiety is linked to the C/Si-centered substituent via an extra phenyl group ("cbz-ph-sub series"). Moreover, members of the cbz-sub series presented strong molecular orbital interactions and suitable singlet and triplet energy differences (ΔEST). Further investigations showed that, in each series, the presence of an Si atom was more likely to inhibit charge and exciton delocalization, and inserting a methyl or tert-butyl group at the 2- and 7-position, respectively, of the carbazole moiety in the cbz-ph-sub molecules improved their ET values and led to clear intramolecular charge-transfer character. A comparison of the energies of host and guest molecules showed that all of the molecules designed in this work are suitable for use with blue-light guest materials.

New insight into photo-induced electron transfer with a simple ubiquinone-based triphenylamine model

A ubiquinone-based triphenylamine system was designed as a simple model to study the photo-induced electron transfer (PET).

Structurally simple phenanthroimidazole-based bipolar hosts for high-performance green and red electroluminescent devices

Two structurally simple and easily synthesized phenanthroimidazole-based bipolar-transporting host materials realized efficient green and red phosphorescent OLEDs with low efficiency roll-off.

Molecular design of triazine and carbazole based host materials for blue phosphorescent organic emitting diodes

The triplet energy of the host was managed by inserting a methyl substituent in the phenyl linkage between triazine and carbazole.

Bipolar gold(III) complexes for solution-processable organic light-emitting devices with a small efficiency roll-off

A new class of bipolar alkynylgold(III) complexes containing triphenylamine and benzimidazole moieties has been synthesized, characterized, and applied as phosphorescent dopants in the fabrication of solution-processable organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). The incorporation of methyl groups in the central phenyl unit has been found to rigidify the molecule to reduce nonradiative decay, yielding a high photoluminescence quantum yield of up to 75% in spin-coated thin films. In addition, the realization of highly efficient solution-processable OLEDs with an extremely small external quantum efficiency (EQE) roll-off has been demonstrated. At practical brightness level of 1000 cd m(-2), the optimized devices exhibited a high EQE of up to 10.0% and an extremely small roll-off of less than 1%.

Novel thermally activated delayed fluorescence materials-thioxanthone derivatives and their applications for highly efficient OLEDs

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters with small energy gap between the triplet and singlet (ΔEST ), TXO-PhCz and TXO-TPA, have been successfully synthesized by combining a hole-transporting TPA/PhCz moiety and an electron-transporting TXO moiety. Both compounds display efficient solid-state luminescence with an efficient up-conversion of the triplet to singlet. OLEDs based on them exhibt high performance up to 21.5%, which is among the best reported for OLEDs.

Synthesis of dimesitylborane-substituted phenylcarbazoles as bipolar host materials and the variation of the green PHOLED performance with the substituent position of the boron atom

Two structural isomers of the bipolar host material containing the dimesitylborane moiety were synthesized and their device performance was investigated. The quantum efficiency of the devices depends on the substituent position of the dimesitylborane moiety. The maximum external quantum efficiency of the device reached as high as 23.8% with a green color coordinate of (0.30, 0.63).

Synthesis and blue phosphorescent device performances of a new bipolar host material containing pyrazino[2,3-b]indole moiety

Newly designed bipolar host material (CzPhPz) consisting of 5H-pyrazino[2,3-b]indole unit was synthesized and exhibited good electron transport properties with a high triplet energy of 2.83 eV for FIrpic-based blue PHOLEDs.

Bipolar host materials: a chemical approach for highly efficient electrophosphorescent devices

The future of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) is drifting from electrofluorescence toward electrophosphorescence due to the feasibility of realizing 100% internal quantum efficiency. There is limited availability of transition metals (TMs) such as Ir, Os, and Pt, which are used for color-tunable phosphorescent emitters, and the use of the host-guest strategy is necessary for suppressing the detrimental triplet-triplet annihilation inherently imparted by the TM-centered emitters. The inevitable demands of organic host materials provide organic chemists with tremendous opportunities to contribute their expertise to this technology. With suitable molecular design and judicious selection of chemical structures featured with different electronic nature, the incorporation of hole-transporting (HT) and electron-transporting (ET) moieties combines the advantages of both functional units into bipolar host materials, which perform balanced injection/transportation/recombination of charge carriers and consequentially lead the OLEDs to have higher performances and low roll-off efficiencies. This review highlights recently developed bipolar host materials with the focus on molecular design strategies and the structure-property-performance relationships of various classes of bipolar host materials, which are classified into several categories according to the structural features of their constituents (HT/ET blocks and spacers).