Suppression of Dexter transfer by covalent encapsulation for efficient matrix-free narrowband deep blue hyperfluorescent OLEDs

Hyperfluorescence shows great promise for the next generation of commercially feasible blue organic light-emitting diodes, for which eliminating the Dexter transfer to terminal emitter triplet states is key to efficiency and stability. Current devices rely on high-gap matrices to prevent Dexter transfer, which unfortunately leads to overly complex devices from a fabrication standpoint. Here we introduce a molecular design where ultranarrowband blue emitters are covalently encapsulated by insulating alkylene straps. Organic light-emitting diodes with simple emissive layers consisting of pristine thermally activated delayed fluorescence hosts doped with encapsulated terminal emitters exhibit negligible external quantum efficiency drops compared with non-doped devices, enabling a maximum external quantum efficiency of 21.5%. To explain the high efficiency in the absence of high-gap matrices, we turn to transient absorption spectroscopy. It is directly observed that Dexter transfer from a pristine thermally activated delayed fluorescence sensitizer host can be substantially reduced by an encapsulated terminal emitter, opening the door to highly efficient 'matrix-free' blue hyperfluorescence.

Covalently linked pyrene antennas for optically dense yet aggregation-resistant light-harvesting systems

In this study we present a novel energy transfer material inspired by natural light-harvesting antenna arrays, zinc(II) phthalocyanine-pyrene (ZnPcPy). The ZnPcPy system facilitates energy transfer from 16 covalently linked pyrene (Py) donor chromophores to the emissive central zinc(II) phthalocyanine (ZnPc) core. Nearly 98% energy transfer efficiency is determined from the changes in emission decay rates between free MePy to covalently linked Py, supported by comparisons of photoluminescence quantum yields using different excitation wavelengths. A comparative analysis of ZnPcPy and an equivalent mixture of ZnPc and MePy demonstrates the superior light-harvesting performance of the covalently linked system, with energy transfer rates 9705 times higher in the covalently bound system. This covalent strategy allows for very high loadings of absorbing Py chromophores to be achieved while also avoiding exciton quenching that would otherwise arise, with the same strategy widely applicable to other pairs of Főrster resonance energy transfer (FRET) chromophores.

Oxidation State Tuning of Room Temperature Phosphorescence and Delayed Fluorescence in Phenothiazine and Phenothiazine-5,5-dioxide Dimers

Heterocyclic dimers consisting of combinations of butterfly-shaped phenothiazine (PTZ) and its chemically oxidized form phenothiazine-5,5-dioxide (PTZ(SO2 )) have been synthesized. A twist is imposed across the dimers by ortho-substituents including methyl ethers, sulfides and sulfones. X-ray crystallography, cyclic voltammetry and optical spectroscopy, underpinned by computational studies, have been employed to study the interplay between the oxidation state, conformational restriction, and emission mechanisms including thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and room temperature phosphorescence (RTP). While the PTZ(SO2 ) dimers are simple fluorophores, the presence of PTZ induces triplet-mediated emission with a mixed PTZ-PTZ(SO2 ) dimer displaying concentration dependent hallmarks of both TADF and RTP.

Extended Conjugation Attenuates the Quenching of Aggregation-Induced Emitters by Photocyclization Pathways

Herein, we expose how the antagonistic relationship between solid‐state luminescence and photocyclization of oligoaryl alkene chromophores is modulated by the conjugation length of their alkenyl backbones. Heptaaryl cycloheptatriene molecular rotors exhibit aggregation‐induced emission characteristics. We show that their emission is turned off upon breaking the conjugation of the cycloheptatriene by epoxide formation. While this modification is deleterious to photoluminescence, it enables formation of extended polycyclic frameworks by Mallory reactions. We exploit this dichotomy (i) to manipulate emission properties in a controlled manner and (ii) as a synthetic tool to link together pairs of phenyl rings in a specific sequence. This method to alter the tendency of oligoaryl alkenes to undergo photocyclization can inform the design of solid‐state emitters that avoid this quenching mechanism, while also allowing selective cyclization in syntheses of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence: Beyond the Single Molecule

Emitters that exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) are of interest for commercial applications in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) due to their ability to achieve internal quantum efficiency of 100%. However, beyond the intrinsic properties of these materials it is important to understand how the molecules interact with each other and when these interactions may occur. Such interactions lead to a significant red shift in the photoluminescence and electroluminescence, making them less practicable for commercial use. Through summarizing the literature, covering solid-state solvation effects and aggregate effects in organic emitters, this mini review outlines a framework for the complete study of TADF emitters formed from the current-state-of-the-art techniques.

Modulation of charge transfer by N-alkylation to control photoluminescence energy and quantum yield

Charge transfer in organic fluorophores is a fundamental photophysical process that can be either beneficial, e.g., facilitating thermally activated delayed fluorescence, or detrimental, e.g., mediating emission quenching. N-Alkylation is shown to provide straightforward synthetic control of the charge transfer, emission energy and quantum yield of amine chromophores. We demonstrate this concept using quinine as a model. N-Alkylation causes changes in its emission that mirror those caused by changes in pH (i.e., protonation). Unlike protonation, however, alkylation of quinine's two N sites is performed in a stepwise manner to give kinetically stable species. This kinetic stability allows us to isolate and characterize an N-alkylated analogue of an ‘unnatural’ protonation state that is quaternized selectively at the less basic site, which is inaccessible using acid. These materials expose (i) the through-space charge-transfer excited state of quinine and (ii) the associated loss pathway, while (iii) developing a simple salt that outperforms quinine sulfate as a quantum yield standard. This N-alkylation approach can be applied broadly in the discovery of emissive materials by tuning charge-transfer states.

A versatile N-alkylation strategy controls the presence of charge-transfer excited states and the emission colour of N-heterocyclic chromophores.

Investigation of Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence from a Donor-Acceptor Compound with Time-Resolved Fluorescence and Density Functional Theory Applying an Optimally Tuned Range-Separated Hybrid Functional

Emitters showing thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) in electroluminescent devices rely on efficient reverse intersystem crossing (rISC) arising from small thermal activation barriers between the lowest excited triplet and singlet manifolds. A small donor-acceptor compound consisting of a demethylacridine donor and a methylbenzoate acceptor group is used as a model TADF emitter. The spectroscopic signatures of this system are characterized using a combination of photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation, and the photoluminescence decay dynamics are recorded between delays of 2 ns and 20 ms. Above T = 200 K, our data provide convincing evidence for TADF at intermediate delays in the microsecond range, whereas triplet-triplet annihilation and slow triplet decay at later times can be observed over the entire temperature range from T = 80 K to room temperature. Moreover, close to room temperature, we find a second and faster up-conversion mechanism, tentatively assigned to reverse internal conversion between different triplet configurations. An interpretation of these experimental findings requires a calculation of the deformation patterns and potential minima of several electronic configurations. This task is performed with a range-separated hybrid functional, outperforming standard density functionals or global hybrids. In particular, the systematic underestimation of the energy of charge transfer (CT) states with respect to local excitations within the constituting chromophores is replaced by more reliable transition energies for both kinds of excitations. Hence, several absorption and emission features can be assigned unambiguously, and the observed activation barriers for rISC and reverse internal conversion correspond to calculated energy differences between the potential surfaces in different electronic configurations.

Intramolecular Dimerization Quenching of Delayed Emission in Asymmetric D-D'-A TADF Emitters

Understanding the excited-state dynamics and conformational relaxation in thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules, including conformations that potentially support intramolecular through-space charge transfer, can open new avenues for TADF molecular design as well as elucidate complex photophysical pathways in structurally complex molecules. Emissive molecules comprising a donor (triphenylamine, TPA) and an acceptor (triphenyltriazine, TRZ) bridged by a second donor (9,9-dimethyl-9-10-dihydroacridin, DMAC, or phenoxazine, PXZ) are synthesized and characterized. In solution, the flexibility of the sp³-hybridized carbon atom in DMAC of DMAC-TPA-TRZ, compared to the rigid PXZ, allows significant conformational reorganization, giving rise to multiple charge-transfer excited states. As a result of such a reorganization, the TRZ and TPA moieties become cofacially aligned, driven by a strong dipole-dipole attraction between the TPA and TRZ units, forming a weakly charge-transfer dimer state, in stark contrast to the case of PXZ-TPA-TRZ where the rigid PXZ bridge only supports a single PXZ-TRZ charge transfer (CT) state. The low-energy TPA-TRZ dimer is found to have a high-energy dimer local triplet state, which quenches delayed emission because the resultant singlet CT local triplet energy gap is too large to mediate efficient reverse intersystem crossing. However, organic light-emitting diodes using PXZ-TPA-TRZ as an emitting dopant resulted in external quantum efficiency as high as 22%, more than two times higher than that of DMAC-TPA-TRZ-based device, showing the impact that such intramolecular reorganization and donor-acceptor dimerization have on TADF performance.

Persistent Dimer Emission in Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials

We expose significant changes in the emission color of carbazole-based thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters that arise from the presence of persistent dimer states in thin films and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Direct photoexcitation of this dimer state in 1,2,3,5-tetrakis(carbazol-9-yl)-4,6-dicyanobenzene (4CzIPN) reveals the significant influence of dimer species on the color purity of its photoluminescence and electroluminescence. The dimer species is sensitive to the sample preparation method, and its enduring presence contributes to the widely reported concentration-mediated red shift in the photoluminescence and electroluminescence of evaporated thin films. This discovery has implications on the usability of these, and similar, molecules for OLEDs and explains disparate electroluminescence spectra presented in the literature for these compounds. The dimerization-controlled changes observed in the TADF process and photoluminescence efficiency mean that careful consideration of dimer states is imperative in the design of future TADF emitters and the interpretation of previously reported studies of carbazole-based TADF materials.

Excited-State Aromatic Interactions in the Aggregation-Induced Emission of Molecular Rotors

Small, apolar aromatic groups, such as phenyl rings, are commonly included in the structures of fluorophores to impart hindered intramolecular rotations, leading to desirable solid-state luminescence properties. However, they are not normally considered to take part in through-space interactions that influence the fluorescent output. Here, we report on the photoluminescence properties of a series of phenyl-ring molecular rotors bearing three, five, six, and seven phenyl groups. The fluorescent emissions from two of the rotors are found to originate, not from the localized excited state as one might expect, but from unanticipated through-space aromatic-dimer states. We demonstrate that these relaxed dimer states can form as a result of intra- or intermolecular interactions across a range of environments in solution and solid samples, including conditions that promote aggregation-induced emission. Computational modeling also suggests that the formation of aromatic-dimer excited states may account for the photophysical properties of a previously reported luminogen. These results imply, therefore, that this is a general phenomenon that should be taken into account when designing and interpreting the fluorescent outputs of luminescent probes and optoelectronic devices based on fluorescent molecular rotors.

Fluorescence and Phosphorescence Anisotropy from Oriented Films of Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters

Anisotropy within three TADF materials has been observed using steady-state fluorescence polarization. This technique has allowed for the observation of differences in polarization within dilute solution, and both unstretched and stretched films; the latter producing highly aligned molecules within the sample. Using these aligned films differences in anisotropy can be observed between the emission from the ¹LE and ¹CT states and upon exciting different absorption bands. Furthermore, polarization observed from time-resolved measurements highlights the strong vibronic coupling between charge-transfer and local triplet states.

Regio- and conformational isomerization critical to design of efficient thermally-activated delayed fluorescence emitters

Regio- and conformational isomerization are fundamental in chemistry, with profound effects upon physical properties, however their role in excited state properties is less developed. Here two regioisomers of bis(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)dibenzo[b,d]thiophene-S,S-dioxide, a donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) thermally-activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitter, are studied. 2,8-bis(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)dibenzo[b,d]thiophene-S,S-dioxide exhibits only one quasi-equatorial conformer on both donor sites, with charge-transfer (CT) emission close to the local triplet state leading to efficient TADF via spin-vibronic coupling. However, 3,7-bis(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)dibenzo[b,d]thiophene-S,S-dioxide displays both a quasi-equatorial CT state and a higher-energy quasi-axial CT state. No TADF is observed in the quasi-axial CT emission. These two CT states link directly to the two folded conformers of phenothiazine. The presence of the low-lying local triplet state of the axial conformer also means that this quasi-axial CT is an effective loss pathway both photophysically and in devices. Importantly, donors or acceptors with more than one conformer have negative repercussions for TADF in organic light-emitting diodes.

The search for brighter emitting materials is essential to the development of OLED devices. Etherington et al. show how the presence of two regioisomers of a donor-acceptor-donor thermally-activated delayed fluorescence molecule affects the device efficiency, with one acting as a triplet quencher.

Revealing the spin-vibronic coupling mechanism of thermally activated delayed fluorescence

Knowing the underlying photophysics of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) allows proper design of high efficiency organic light-emitting diodes. We have proposed a model to describe reverse intersystem crossing (rISC) in donor-acceptor charge transfer molecules, where spin-orbit coupling between singlet and triplet states is mediated by one of the local triplet states of the donor (or acceptor). This second order, vibronically coupled mechanism describes the basic photophysics of TADF. Through a series of measurements, whereby the energy ordering of the charge transfer (CT) excited states and the local triplet are tuned in and out of resonance, we show that TADF reaches a maximum at the resonance point, substantiating our model of rISC. Moreover, using photoinduced absorption, we show how the populations of both singlet and triplet CT states and the local triplet state change in and out of resonance. Our vibronic coupling rISC model is used to predict this behaviour and describes how rISC and TADF are affected by external perturbation.