Advances in Solution-Processed OLEDs and their Prospects for Use in Displays

This review outlines problems and progress in development of solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (SOLEDs) in industry and academia. Solution processing has several advantages such as low consumption of materials, low-cost processing, and large-area manufacturing. However, use of a solution process entails complications, such as the need for solvent resistivity and solution-processable materials, and yields SOLEDs that have limited luminous efficiency, severe roll-off characteristics, and short lifetime compared to OLEDs fabricated using thermal evaporation. These demerits impede production of practical SOLED displays. This review outlines the industrial demands for commercial SOLEDs and the current status of SOLED development in industries and academia, and presents research guidelines for the development of SOLEDs that have high efficiency, long lifetime, and good processability to achieve commercialization.

Universal Polymeric Hole Transporting Material for Solution-Processable Green and Blue Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence OLEDs

To obtain high-efficiency solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), a hole transport material (HTM) capable of solution processing with excellent charge transport properties is required. In this study, a new vinyl polymer (PmCP) containing hole-transporting 1,3-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)benzene (mCP) in the side chain was successfully synthesized via radical polymerization. PmCP showed good film-forming ability and thermal stability. Moreover, PmCP has a higher triplet energy value and hole mobility than poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) used as a reference HTM, which can be applied as a hole transport layer (HTL) in thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) OLEDs, providing green and blue emissions. PmCP-based solution-processable TADF-OLEDs containing green- and blue-emitting layers were easily fabricated without damaging the lower HTL while using ethyl acetate as an orthogonal solvent. The corresponding OLEDs possess high external quantum efficiencies of 29.60% and 11.00% for the green- and blue-emitting devices, respectively. They show superior performances compared to PVK-based devices used as a reference. It was confirmed that PmCP as a solution-processable HTM can replace PVK and is universally applicable to both green- and blue-emitting devices.

Customized Orthogonal Solvent System with Various Hole-Transporting Polymers for Highly Reproducible Solution-Processable Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

Recently, various hosts and emitters for solution-processable thermally activated delayed fluorescence organic light-emitting diodes (TADF-OLEDs) have been developed. However, a few studies have been conducted on hole transport materials (HTMs) with differentiated solubility characteristics for manufacturing multilayer OLEDs using a solution process. Here, three new hole transport (HT) styrene polymers, PICz, PPBCz, and PTPCz, were synthesized by radical polymerization. Each of the polymers exhibited increases in their highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) levels and better hole-transporting abilities than poly(9-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) as a reference HT polymer. Furthermore, the three HT polymers exhibited different solubilities in toluene. Therefore, it was not possible to use a toluene solution to prepare the emitting layer (EML). To overcome this problem, ethyl acetate (EA), in which the three HT polymers are insoluble, was used as an orthogonal solvent to prepare an EML solution. In EA-solution-processed green-emitting TADF-OLEDs, the three HT-polymer-based devices displayed somewhat low turn-on voltages of 2.8 V and high external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of >23%. These values are superior to those of a device with a PVK-HT layer. In addition, the devices manufactured with the EA solution showed high-performance reproducibility owing to the stable formation of each layer. In this study, we removed the HTM solubility constraint by dramatically changing the solvent for preparing the EML solution and provided an efficient strategy for the fabrication of OLED devices via solution processes in the future.

Asymmetrical-Dendronized TADF Emitters for Efficient Non-doped Solution-Processed OLEDs by Eliminating Degenerate Excited States and Creating Solely Thermal Equilibrium Routes

The mechanism of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) in dendrimers is not clear. We report that fully-conjugated or fully-nonconjugated structures cause unwanted degenerate excited states due to multiple identical dendrons, which limit their TADF efficiency. We have synthesized asymmetrical "half-dendronized" and "half-dendronized-half-encapsulated" emitters. By eliminating degenerate excited states, the triplet locally excited state is ≥0.3 eV above the lowest triplet charge-transfer state, assuring a solely thermal equilibrium route for an effective spin-flip process. The isolated encapsulating tricarbazole unit can protect the TADF unit, reducing nonradiative decay and enhancing TADF performance. Non-doped solution-processed devices reach a high external quantum efficiency (EQEmax ) of 24.0 % (65.9 cd A-1 , 59.2 lm W-1 ) with CIE coordinates of (0.24, 0.45) with a low efficiency roll-off and EQEs of 23.6 % and 21.3 % at 100 and 500 cd m-2 .

Vapor phase polymerization for electronically conductive nanopaper based on bacterial cellulose/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)

Eco-friendly conductive polymer nanocomposites have garnered attention as an effective alternative for conventional conductive nanocomposites. Here, we report the fabrication and optimization of flexible, self-standing, and conductive bacterial cellulose/poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (BC/PEDOT) nanocomposites using the vapor phase polymerization (VPP) method. Eco-friendly bacterial cellulose (BC) is used as a flexible matrix, and the highly conductive PEDOT polymer is introduced into the BC matrix to achieve electronic conductivity. We demonstrate that vapor phase polymerized BC/PEDOT composites exhibit more than 10 times lower sheet resistance (18 Ω/square) compared to solution polymerized BC/PEDOT (188 Ω/square). The resultant BC/PEDOT fabricated could be bent up to 100 times and completely rolled up without a notable decrease in electronic performance. Moreover, bent BC/PEDOT films enable operation of a green light-emitting diode (LED) light, indicating the flexibility and stability of conductive BC/PEDOT films. Overall, this study suggests a strategy for the development of eco-friendly, flexible, and conductive nanocomposite films.

Endowing TADF luminophors with AIE properties through adjusting flexible dendrons for highly efficient solution-processed nondoped OLEDs

The amalgamation of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties, termed AIE-TADF, is a promising strategy to design novel robust luminescent materials. Herein, we transform 2,3,4,5,6-penta(9H-carbazol-9-yl)benzonitrile (5CzBN) from an ACQ molecule into an AIEgen by simply decorating the 5CzBN core with alkyl chain-linked spirobifluorene dendrons. By increasing the number of flexible dendrons, these materials can not only show obvious AIE-TADF characteristics and uniform film morphology, but can also exhibit better resistance to isopropyl alcohol, which are beneficial to fully solution-processed OLEDs. Notably, 5CzBN-PSP shows great device efficiency with an external quantum efficiency (EQE), current efficiency and power efficiency of 20.1%, 58.7 cd A-1 and 46.2 lm W-1, respectively and achieved record-breaking efficiency in solution-processed nondoped OLEDs based on AIE emitters. This work demonstrates a general approach to explore new efficient emitters by the marriage of AIE and TADF which could potentially improve their performance in various areas.

Unravelling Electroplex Emission from Long-Range Charge Transfer Based on a Phosphorescent Dendrimer as the Electron Donor

We report the exceptionally long-range charge-transfer-induced electroplex between a neat dendrimer emitter and the adjacent electron-transporting layer (ETL). Interestingly, the electroplex exists even in the dilute emitter with a sufficiently low concentration (0.5 wt %) in an inert host. The iridium dendrimer with the carbazole-based dendritic ligands exhibits bright emission, peaking at 536 nm, with a full width at half-maximum (fwhm) of 77 nm in the devices without any ETLs. Unexpectedly, once the ETLs are inserted, a significantly broadened emission (fwhm = 115 nm) is detectable under electroluminescence. Taking advantage of the broad interfacial electroplex emission, a hybrid warm-white device was demonstrated by combining a sky-blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter, exhibiting a maximum external quantum efficiency of 13.7%, which is an order of magnitude higher than that of any other reported works based on the electroplex white organic light-emitting diodes.

Hole-Transporting Side-Chain Polymer Bearing a Thermally Crosslinkable Bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1,3,5-trien-3-yl Group for High-Performing Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence OLED

A new side-chain polymer (X-TPACz) bearing hole-transporting pendant groups accompanying a thermally crosslinkable entity was synthesized using N-([1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl)- N-(4-(9-(4-vinylbenzyl)-9 H-carbazol-3-yl)phenyl)bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1(6),2,4-trien-3-amine (6) via addition polymerization. The X-TPACz could be spontaneously crosslinked without using any further reagents and showed a good film-forming property upon low-temperature thermal treatment. The thermal curing temperature for the X-TPACz film was optimized to be 180 °C based on a differential scanning calorimetry thermogram. Moreover, the thermal degradation temperature of X-TPACz measured to be over 467 °C using thermogravimetric analysis demonstrated that it shows excellent thermal stability. In particular, X-TPACz exhibits the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level to be -5.26 eV, which is beneficial for facile hole injection and transportation. Consequently, the thermally activated delayed fluorescence organic light-emitting diodes fabricated using X-TPACz as the hole-transporting material showed state-of-the-art performances with a low turn-on voltage ( V_on) of only 2.7 V and a high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 19.18% with a high current efficiency (CE) of 66.88 cd/A and a high power efficiency (PE) of 60.03 lm/W, which are highly superior to those of the familiar poly(9-vinylcarbazole) (PVK)-based devices ( V_on = 3.9 V, EQE of 17.42%, with CE of 58.33 cd/A and PE of 33.32 lm/W). The extremely low turn-on voltage and high EQE were found to be due to the higher-lying highest occupied molecular orbital energy level ( E_HOMO = -5.23 eV) and better hole-transporting property of X-TPACz than those of PVK.

Achieving 20% External Quantum Efficiency for Fully Solution-Processed Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Based on Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Dendrimers with Flexible Chains

Actualizing high-efficiency thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with fully wet processes is of great significance to the development of purely organic electroluminescence and the application of large-area OLED displays. Herein, new strategies are proposed to develop the TADF dendrimers with tunable colors by adjusting the way of linking branches to the core and the numbers of peripheral branches. Due to an energy gradient and efficient exciton utilization in the core-dendron system, the solution-processed OLEDs with the four dendrimers 5CzBN-O-Cz, 5CzBN-O-2Cz, 5CzBN-Cz, and 5CzBN-2Cz all give rise to low turn-on voltages and great device efficiency. Notably, 5CzBN-2Cz affords record-high fully solution-processed TADF OLEDs with external quantum efficiency of above 20%, which is significantly comparable to the efficiency of TADF OLEDs based on vacuum deposition. The work offers a guideline for designing solution-processable materials, paving the way toward practical applications of large-area fully solution-processed OLEDs.

Multinuclear Iridium Complex Encapsulated by Oligocarbazole Dendrons for Enhanced Nondoped Device Efficiency

A dendritic multinuclear Ir complex, namely Cz-3IrB-IrG, has been designed and synthesized by introducing the second-generation oligocarbazole dendrons into its periphery. Because of the characteristic encapsulation, the intermolecular interactions could be effectively alleviated to prevent the unwanted triplet-triplet annihilation stemmed from the outer blue Ir complexes. Compared with 3IrB-IrG in the absence of dendrons, the film photoluminescence quantum yield of Cz-3IrB-IrG is greatly increased from 0.46 to 0.82 together with a small blue-shifted emission from 524 to 520 nm. On the basis of Cz-3IrB-IrG as the emitting layer alone, the nondoped device realizes a promising luminous efficiency of 40.9 cd/A (12.0%), much higher than that of 3IrB-IrG (32.6 cd/A, 9.7%). The obtained improvement clearly indicates that further dendronization toward multinuclear Ir complex will provide an alternative strategy to construct highly efficient phosphors used for nondoped phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes.

Highly Efficient Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with Fully Solution-Processed Organic Multilayered Architecture: Impact of Terminal Substitution on Carbazole-Benzophenone Dendrimer and Interfacial Engineering

A series of second-generation carbazole-benzophenone dendrimer substituted by several functional groups at terminal positions (subG2B) was investigated toward a thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitter for nondoped emissive layer (EML) application in a solution-processed organic light-emitting diode (OLED). Substitution was found to dramatically alter the photophysical properties of the dendritic TADF emitters. The introduction of tert-butyl and phenyl group endows the subG2Bs with aggregation-induced emission enhancement character by suppression of internal conversion in singlet excited states. In the meantime, the introduction of a methoxy group resulted in aggregation-caused quenching character. The device performance of the OLED, where subG2B neat films were incorporated as nondoped EMLs, was found to be highly enhanced by adopting fully solution-processed organic multilayer architecture in comparison to the devices with a vacuum-deposited electron transporting layer (ETL), achieving a maximum external quantum efficiency of 17.0%. Such improvement was attributable to the improved carrier balance via intermixing at solution-processed EML/ETL interfaces. It was also found that the post-thermal annealing of the OLED at appropriate temperatures could be beneficial to enhance OLED performance by promoting the intermixing EML/ETL interface to some extent. Our findings emphasize the potential utility of dendritic TADF emitters in the solution-processed TADF-OLED and increase the importance to manipulate dendrimer/small molecule interfaces.

Morphology of OLED Film Stacks Containing Solution-Processed Phosphorescent Dendrimers

Organic light-emitting devices containing solution-processed emissive dendrimers can be highly efficient. The most efficient devices contain a blend of the light-emitting dendrimer in a host and one or more charge-transporting layers. Using neutron reflectometry measurements with in situ photoluminescence, we have investigated the structure of the as-formed film as well as the changes in film structure and dendrimer emission under thermal stress. It was found that the as-formed film stacks comprising poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate/host:dendrimer/1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimidazol-2-yl)benzene (where the host was deuterated 4,4'-N,N'-di(carbazolyl)biphenyl or tris(4-carbazol-9-ylphenyl)amine, the host:dendrimer layer was solution-processed, and the 1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimidazol-2-yl)benzene evaporated) had well-defined interfaces, indicating good wetting of each of the layers by the subsequently deposited layer. Upon thermal annealing, there was no change in the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate/host:dendrimer interface, but once the temperature reached above the T_g of the host:dendrimer layer, it became a supercooled liquid into which 1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimidazol-2-yl)benzene dissolved. When the film stacks were held at a temperature just above the onset of the diffusion process, they underwent an initial relatively fast diffusion process before reaching a quasi-stable state at that temperature.