Toward highly efficient deep-blue OLEDs: Tailoring the multiresonance-induced TADF molecules for suppressed excimer formation and near-unity horizontal dipole ratio

Visualization of Multiple-Resonance-Induced Frontier Molecular Orbitals in a Single Multiple-Resonance Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Molecule

The spatial distribution and electronic properties of the frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) in a thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecule contribute significantly to the TADF properties, and thus, a detailed understanding and sophisticated control of the FMOs are fundamental to the design of TADF molecules. However, for multiple-resonance (MR)-TADF molecules that achieve spatial separation of FMOs by the MR effect, the distinctive distribution of these molecular orbitals poses significant challenges for conventional computational analysis and ensemble averaging methods to elucidate the FMOs' separation and the precise mechanism of luminescence. Therefore, the visualization and analysis of electronic states with the specific energy level of a single MR-TADF molecule will provide a deeper understanding of the TADF mechanism. Here, scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) was used to investigate the electronic states of the DABNA-1 molecule at the atomic scale. FMOs' visualization and local density of states analysis of the DABNA-1 molecule clearly show that MR-TADF molecules also have well-separated FMOs according to the internal heteroatom arrangement, providing insights that complement existing theoretical prediction methods.

"Core-Shell" Wave Function Modulation in Organic Narrowband Emitters

Efficient red-green-blue primary luminescence with an extraordinarily narrow band and durability is crucial for advanced display applications. Recently, the emergence of multiple-resonance (MR) from short-range atomic interactions has been shown to induce extremely narrow spectral widths in pure organic emitters. However, achieving wide-range color tuning without compromising color purity remains a persistent challenge for MR emitters. Herein, the concept of electronic donor/acceptor "core-shell" modulation is proposed within a boron/nitrogen (B/N) MR skeleton, enabling the rational utilization of intramolecular charge transfer to facilitate wavelength shift. The dense B atoms localized at the center of the molecule effectively compress the electron density and stabilize the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital wave function. This electron-withdrawing core is embedded with peripheral electron-donating atoms. Consequently, doping a single B atom into a deep-blue MR framework led to a profound bathochromic shift from 447 to 624 nm (∼0.8 eV) while maintaining a narrow spectral width of 0.10 eV in this pure-red emitter. Notably, organic light-emitting diodes assisted by thermally activated delayed fluorescence molecules achieved superb electroluminescent stability, with an LT99 (99% of the initial luminance) exceeding 400 h at an initial luminance of 1000 cd m-2, approaching commercial-level performance without the assistance of phosphors.

Hexacarbazolylbenzene: An Excellent Host Molecule Causing Strong Guest Molecular Orientation and the High-Performance OLEDs

Hexacarbazolylbenzene (6CzPh), which is benzene substituted by six carbazole rings, is a simple and attractive compound. Despite the success of a wide variety of carbazole derivatives in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), 6CzPh has not received attention so far. Here, excellent performances of 6CzPh are revealed as a host material in OLEDs regarding conventional host materials. Various strategies are implemented to improve the performance of OLEDs, e.g., triplet utilization by thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and phosphorescence emitters for maximizing internal quantum efficiency, and molecular orientation control for increasing outcoupling efficiency. The present host material is suited for both criteria. Robustness of the structure and sufficiently high triplet energy enables a high external quantum efficiency with a long device lifetime. Besides, the host material boosts the horizontal molecular orientations of several guest emitters. It is noteworthy that disk-shaped 4CzIPN marks the complete horizontal molecular orientations (Θh = 100%, S = -0.50). These results provide an effective way of improving efficiencies without sacrificing device durability for future OLEDs.

Enhancing Light Outcoupling Efficiency via Anisotropic Low Refractive Index Electron Transporting Materials for Efficient Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes

Thanks to the extensive efforts toward optimizing perovskite crystallization properties, high-quality perovskite films with near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield are successfully achieved. However, the light outcoupling efficiency of perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) is impeded by insufficient light extraction, which poses a challenge to the further advancement of PeLEDs. Here, an anisotropic multifunctional electron transporting material, 9,10-bis(4-(2-phenyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-1-yl)phenyl) anthracene (BPBiPA), with a low extraordinary refractive index (ne) and high electron mobility is developed for fabricating high-efficiency PeLEDs. The anisotropic molecular orientations of BPBiPA can result in a low ne of 1.59 along the z-axis direction. Optical simulations show that the low ne of BPBiPA can effectively mitigate the surface plasmon polariton loss and enhance the photon extraction efficiency in waveguide mode, thereby improving the light outcoupling efficiency of PeLEDs. In addition, the high electron mobility of BPBiPA can facilitate balanced carrier injection in PeLEDs. As a result, high-efficiency green PeLEDs with a record external quantum efficiency of 32.1% and a current efficiency of 111.7 cd A-1 are obtained, which provides new inspirations for the design of electron transporting materials for high-performance PeLEDs.

Structurally Tunable Donor-Bridge-Fluorophore Architecture Enables Highly Efficient and Concentration-Independent Narrowband Electroluminescence

Luminescent materials with narrowband emission have extraordinary significance for developing ultrahigh-definition display. B-N-containing multiple resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) materials are strong contenders. However, their device performances pervasively encounter detrimental aggregation-caused quenching effect that is highly vulnerable to doping concentration, complicating device fabrication. Therefore, constructing highly efficient and concentration-independent MR-TADF emitters is of pragmatic importance for improving device controllability and reproducibility, simplifying manufacturing procedures, and conserving production costs. Here, by systematic arrangement of donor triphenylamine and fluorophore BNCz on distinct bridges, a spatial confinement strategy has been developed with a donor-bridge-fluorophore architecture. Structurally fine modulation and progressive evolution to construct molecular entities with congested steric hindrance effect that can suppress intermolecular interactions without substantially affecting the luminescence tone of fluorophore BNCz, resulting in highly efficient and concentration-independent narrowband emitters; through isomer engineering, two isomers BN-PCz-TPA and TPA-PCz-BN with different crystal stacking patterns are synthesized by altering the connection mode between triphenylamine and BNCz. As a result, BN-PCz-TPA-based device showcases maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 36.3% with narrow full-width at half-maximum of 27 nm at 10 wt% doping concentration. Even at 20 wt% doping concentration, the maximum EQE remains at 32.5% and the emission spectrum is almost unchanged.

Efficient Deep-Blue Multiple-Resonance Emitters Based on Azepine-Decorated ν-DABNA for CIEy below 0.06

Ultrapure deep-blue emitters are in high demand for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Although color coordinates serve as straightforward parameters for assessing color purity, precise control over the maximum wavelength and full-width at half-maximum is necessary to optimize OLED performance, including luminance efficiency and luminous efficacy. Multiple-resonance (MR) emitters are promising candidates for achieving ideal luminescence properties; consequently, a wide variety of MR frameworks have been developed. However, most of these emitters experience a wavelength displacement from the ideal color, which limits their practical applicability. Therefore, a molecular design that is compatible with MR emitters for modulating their energy levels and color output is particularly valuable. Here, it is demonstrated that the azepine donor unit induces an appropriate blue-shift in the emission maximum while maintaining efficient MR characteristics, including high photoluminescence quantum yield, narrow emission, and a fast reverse intersystem crossing rate. OLEDs using newly developed MR emitters based on the ν-DABNA framework simultaneously exhibit a high quantum efficiency of ≈30%, luminous efficacy of ≈20 lm W-1, exceptional color purity with Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage coordinates as low as (0.14, 0.06), and notably high operational stability. These results demonstrate unprecedentedly high levels compared with those observed in previously reported deep-blue emitters.

Creating Efficient Red Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials with Cyano-Substituted 11,12-Diphenyldipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine Acceptors

Red luminescent materials are essential components for full color display and white lightening based on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology, but the extension of emission color towards red or deep red region generally leads to decreased photoluminescence and electroluminescence efficiencies. Herein, we wish to report two new luminescent molecules (2CNDPBPPr-TPA and 4CNDPBPPr-TPA) consisting of cyano-substituted 11,12-diphenyldipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine acceptors and triphenylamine donors. As the increase of cyano substituents, the emission wavelength is greatly red-shifted and the reverse intersystem crossing process is promoted, resulting in strong red delayed fluorescence. Meanwhile, due to the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds, the molecular structures become rigidified and planarized, which brings about large horizontal dipole ratios. As a result, 2CNDPBPPr-TPA and 4CNDPBPPr-TPA can perform as emitters efficiently in OLEDs, furnishing excellent external quantum efficiencies of 28.8 % at 616 nm and 20.2 % at 648 nm, which are significantly improved in comparison with that of the control molecule without cyano substituents. The findings in this work demonstrate that the introduction of cyano substituents to the acceptors of delayed fluorescence molecules could be a facile and effective approach to explore high-efficiency red or deep red delayed fluorescence materials.

Organoboron-based multiple-resonance emitters: synthesis, structure-property correlations, and prospects

Boron-based multiple-resonance (MR) emitters exhibit the advantages of narrowband emission, high absolute photoluminescence quantum yield, thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), and sufficient stability during the operation of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Thus, such MR emitters have been widely applied as blue emitters in triplet-triplet-annihilation-driven fluorescent devices used in smartphones and televisions. Moreover, they hold great promise as TADF or terminal emitters in TADF-assisted fluorescence or phosphor-sensitised fluorescent OLEDs. Herein we comprehensively review organoboron-based MR emitters based on their synthetic strategies, clarify structure-photophysical property correlations, and provide design guidelines and future development prospects.