Photophysical properties of Pt(ii) complexes based on the benzoquinoline (bzq) ligand with OLED implication: a theoretical study

In this study, we investigate photophysical properties of eight inorganic Pt(ii) complexes containing the bzq (benzoquinoline) ligand for OLED applications using high-level density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations. We explore the radiative and non-radiative relaxation constants (k r, k nr), spin-orbit coupling (SOC) matrix elements, and spectral properties. To ensure compatibility between the host and guest compounds, we determine the HOMO and LUMO energy levels, as well as the triplet excitation energies of the selected systems, and evaluate their efficiency for OLED devices. Our findings indicate that all systems, except for 2a and 2b, exhibit a small S1-T1 energetic gap (ΔE ≤ 0.60 eV) and promising SOC matrix elements (25-93 cm-1), leading to a significant intersystem crossing (ISC) process. These complexes also show promising radiative relaxation rates (k r = ∼10-4 s-1) and high phosphorescent quantum yields (Φ > 30%). Thus, our results confirm that six out of the eight selected Pt(ii) complexes are promising candidates for use in the emitting layer (EML) of OLED devices as efficient green emitters.

Sky-blue iridium complexes with pyrimidine ligands for highly efficient phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes

Three sky blue heteroleptic Ir(III) complexes with emission peaks at 457–459 nm, have been developed. A maximum quantum efficiency of 21.23% with CIE coordinates of (0.15, 0.26) is realized in their PhOLEDs, representing a higher efficiencies and improved color purities than FIrpic.

The dependence of oxygen sensitivity on the molecular structures of Ir(iii) complexes and their application for photostable and reversible luminescent oxygen sensing

The delocalization of spin populations (DSPs) could be used to describe the dependence of oxygen sensitivity on the molecular structures of Ir(iii) complexes. And excellent operational stability of an Ir(iii) oxygen sensing film is presented.

Highly luminescent phosphine oxide-containing bipolar alkynylgold(iii) complexes for solution-processable organic light-emitting devices with small efficiency roll-offs

We report the synthesis of alkynylgold(iii) complexes with an electron-transporting phosphine oxide moiety in the tridentate ligand and hole-transporting triarylamine moieties as auxiliary ligands to generate a new class of phosphine oxide-containing bipolar gold(iii) complexes for the first time. Such gold(iii) complexes feature high photoluminescence quantum yields of over 70% in 1,3-bis(N-carbazolyl)benzene thin films with relatively short excited-state lifetimes of less than 3.9 μs at a 20 wt% dopant concentration. Highly efficient solution-processable organic light-emitting devices have been prepared with superior current efficiencies of up to 51.6 cd A-1 and external quantum efficiencies of up to 15.3%. Notably, triplet-triplet annihilation has been significantly reduced, as exemplified by a very small efficiency roll-off of ∼1% at a practical brightness of 500 cd m-2.

Dual n-type units including pyridine and diphenylphosphine oxide: effective design strategy of host materials for high-performance organic light-emitting diodes

By using pyridine and diphenylphosphine oxide (DPPO) as dual n-type units, two novel bipolar hosts, namely (5-(3,5-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)pyridin-3-yl)diphenylphosphine oxide (m-PyPOmCP), and (6-(3,5-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)pyridin-3-yl)diphenylphosphine oxide (p-PyPOmCP) are developed for blue and green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs). Direct linking of the dual n-type units not only pulls the LUMOs down, but also keeps the HOMO levels shallow, and leads to high triplet energies (2.78-2.86 eV) and small singlet-triplet energy differences (0.23-0.35 eV). Blue and green PhOLEDs are fabricated using FIrpic and Ir(ppy)3 as dopants in the hosts. A low turn-on voltage of 2.6 V is achieved for the green PhOLEDs. The m-PyPOmCP hosted blue PhOLED achieves a high current efficiency of 55.6 cd A-1 (corresponding to a maximum external quantum efficiency of 25.3% and a power efficiency of 43.6 lm W-1). The p-PyPOmCP hosted green PhOLED exhibits an efficiency of 98.2 cd A-1 (28.2% and 102.8 lm W-1). These data are among the best values for blue and green PhOLEDs reported so far. These "dual n-type units" hosts show much better performance than their DPPO-free analogue, clearly proving that the direct linking of DPPO and pyridine as dual n-type units is an effective molecular design strategy for host materials for use in high-performance PhOLEDs.

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.

Yellow/orange emissive heavy-metal complexes as phosphors in monochromatic and white organic light-emitting devices

Owing to the electron spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and fast intersystem crossing (ISC), heavy-metal complexes (such as iridium(III), platinum(II) and osmium(II) complexes, etc.) are phosphorescent emitters at room temperature. Since 1998, heavy-metal complexes as phosphors have received considerable academic and industrial attention in the field of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), because they can harvest both the singlet (25%) and triplet (75%) excitons for emission during the electro-generated processes. Among all the visible colors (blue, green, yellow, orange and red), the yellow/orange heavy-metal complexes play an important role for realizing full-color OLEDs as well as high-efficiency white OLEDs, and thus the development of highly efficient yellow/orange heavy-metal complexes is a pressing concern. In this article, we will review the progress on yellow/orange heavy-metal complexes as phosphors in OLEDs. The general principles and useful tactics for designing the yellow/orange heavy-metal complexes will be systematically summarized. The structure-property relationship and electrophosphorescence performance of the yellow/orange heavy-metal complexes in monochromatic phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs) and white OLEDs (WOLEDs) will be comprehensively surveyed and discussed.

High performance blue-green and green phosphorescent OLEDs based on iridium complexes with N^C^N-coordinated terdentate ligands

Two iridium complexes with N^C^N-coordinated terdentate ligands exhibit high PE and EQE values of 35.5 lm W⁻¹ & 15.8% for blue-green emission, 47.4 lm W⁻¹ & 16.7% for green emission via direct charge recombination on both dopant emitters in the bipolar host–dopant systems.

Recent advances in transition metal complexes and light-management engineering in organic optoelectronic devices

Two of the recent major research topics in optoelectronic devices are discussed: the development of new organic materials (both molecular and polymeric) for the active layer of organic optoelectronic devices (particularly organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs)), and light management, including light extraction for OLEDs and light trapping for organic solar cells (OSCs). In the first section, recent developments of phosphorescent transition metal complexes for OLEDs in the past 3-4 years are reviewed. The discussion is focused on the development of metal complexes based on iridium, platinum, and a few other transition metals. In the second part, different light-management strategies in the design of OLEDs with improved light extraction, and of OSCs with improved light trapping is discussed.