Highly efficient all phosphorescent white organic light-emitting diodes for solid state lighting applications

We report highly efficient all phosphorescent white organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with an exciton-confinement structure. By stacking two emissive layers (EMLs) with different charge transporting properties, effective charges as well as exciton confinements were achieved. Accordingly, efficient blue OLEDs with a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) over 22% and power efficacy (PE) over 50 lm/W were developed by using iridium(III) bis(4,6-(difluorophenyl) pyridinato-N,C2′)picolinate (FIrpic) as an electro-phosphorescent dopant. When the optimized orange and red EMLs were sandwiched between the stacked two blue EMLs, white OLEDs with an EQE and PE of 24.3% and 45.9 lm/W at a luminance of 1000 cd/m² were obtained without the use of any out-coupling techniques. In addition, these white OLEDs exhibit a color rendering index (CRI) value of 84 with high efficacy.     

Simple-structure white organic light emitting diodes with high color temperature

We present high color temperature white organic light emitting diodes with a simple p-i-n structure. A sky blue phosphorescent dopant of iridium(III) bis[4,6-(difluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C^2’] picolinate and a red phosphorescent dopant of bis(2-phenylquinoline)(acetylacetonate)iridium(III) in the emissive layers is employed to make high color temperature devices. Very stable color variation under ?0.02 until a 5000 cd/m² brightness value is realized by efficient carrier control in a multi stacked emitting layer of blue/red/blue colors. Maximum current and power efficiencies of 23.8 cd/A and 22.9 lm/W in forward direction are obtained. With balanced emissions from the two emitters, the white light emission with very high correlated color temperature of 7308 K as well as CIE coordinates of (0.30, 0.33) is achieved.     

Efficient red light phosphorescence emission in simple bi-layered structure organic devices with fluorescent host-phosphorescent guest system

Highly efficient red phosphorescent devices comprising a simple bi-layered structure using tris(1-phenylisoquinoline)iridium (Ir(piq)₃) doped in a narrow band-gap fluorescent host material, bis(10-hydroxybenzo [h] quinolinato)beryllium complex (Bebq₂) are reported. The driving voltage to reach 1000 cd/m² is 3.5 V in Bebq₂:Ir(piq)₃ red phosphorescent device. With a dopant concentration of as low as 4%, the current and power efficiency values of 8.41 cd/A and 7.34 lm/W are obtained in this PHOLEDs, respectively. External quantum efficiency (EQE) of 14.5% is noticed in this red phosphorescent device, promising to high brightness applications.     

Efficient blue-green and white organic light-emitting diodes with a small-molecule host and cationic iridium complexes as dopants

Using cationic iridium complexes as dopants and a small molecule, 9,9-bis[4-(3,6-di-tert-butylcarbazol-9-yl)phenyl]fluorene, as the host, efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been fabricated from a solution process. The blue-green OLEDs achieve a peak current efficiency of 19.8 cd?A^?1 and a maximum brightness of 17700 cd?m^?2. White OLEDs have been fabricated with a peak current efficiency of 16.8 cd?A^?1 and Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage coordinates around (0.37, 0.44). It is suggested that cationic iridium complexes, in addition to their use in light-emitting electrochemical cells, are promising phosphorescent dopants for solution-processed small-molecule OLEDs.     

低效率滚降、发光颜色稳定的磷光白色有机电致发光器件

本文采用多发光层结构,制备了高亮度下具有高发光效率,同时在较宽亮度范围内发光颜色稳定的白色磷光有机电致发光器件(WOLED).在对双发光层结构磷光OLEDs的发光机制和载流子传输过程进行系统研究的基础上,将两种磷光OLEDs的发光层结构相结合,获得的多发光层结构磷光WOLED最大电流效率和外量子效率分别为34.6 cd/A和13.5%;当亮度为1000 cd/m^2时,其电流效率和外量子效率分别为33.9 cd/A和13.3%,外量子效率滚降仅为1.5%;亮度从1000 cd/m^2增至10000 cd/m^2的过程中,其CIE色度坐标从(0.342,0.403)变化至(0.326,0.392),变化量ΔCIE为(0.016,0.011).     

High-efficiency blue and white phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices

We have significantly improved the efficiency of blue and white phosphorescence from organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) based on phosphorescent iridium complexes. To improve the emission efficiency, 4,4^′-Bis(9-carbazolyl)-2,2^′-Dimethyl-biphenyl (CDBP), which has a high triplet energy, was used as the carrier-transporting host for the emissive layer. The blue phosphorescent OLED exhibited a maximum external quantum efficiency of 10.4%, which corresponds to a current efficiency of 20.4 cd/A. This result can be explained as due to the efficient confinement of triplet energy on blue phosphorescent molecules, which is consistent with the results of transient photoluminescence experiments. The white phosphorescent OLED with greenish-blue and red emissive layers exhibited a maximum external quantum efficiency of 12% and a luminous efficiency of 18 cd/A. This is primarily attributed to the improvement of greenish-blue emission efficiency as well as the emission efficiency of the blue phosphorescent OLED.     

Bright white light electroluminescent devices based on efficient management of singlet and triplet excitons

Efficient and bright white organic light-emitting devices (WOLEDs) based on phosphor sensitized fluorescence are improved by using an unusual device structure, in which phosphorescent emissive layer is sandwiched between two blue fluorescent doped ones. This architecture allows for resonant energy transfer from both the host singlet and triplet energy levels that minimizes exchange energy losses. Thus, a WOLED with a maximum luminous efficiency of 11.63 cd/A, a maximum power efficiency of 7.37 lm/W, a maximum luminance of 31,770 cd/m², and Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage coordinates of (0.34, 0.36) is achieved.     

Efficient small molecular and polymer organic devices using bis[2-(4-tert-butylphenyl)benzothiazolato-N,C′] iridium (III) (acetylacetonate) dye as emitter

Small molecular organic light-emitting diodes (MOLED) and polymer organic light-emitting diodes (POLED) were fabricated with yellow light emission phosphorescent dye bis[2-(4-tert-butylphenyl)benzothiazolato-N,C²′] iridium (III) (acetylacetonate) doped in different hosts. The electroluminescent (EL) spectra of both devices shown two peaks generated from iridium dye but the position of main peak changed and became broader for POLED. The maximum luminance of 10,500 cd/m² achieved at 12.5 V for MOLED is higher than maximum luminance of 9996 cd/m² at 20 V for POLED. The maximum power efficiency of small molecular device is 6.4 lm/W, which is higher than 2.3 lm/W of polymer device, but the efficiency of both devices will roll off at large current density.     

Screen-printed white OLED based on polystyrene as a host polymer

We demonstrate the use of screen printing in the fabrication of single-layer organic-light-emitting devices (OLEDs). The organic layer is a single-layer of polystyrene, in which we incorporate rubrene for orange emission and α-NPD, DPVBi for blue emission. An appropriate mixing of the two colors produced white emission by incomplete Förster energy transfer. We showed the role of each constituent, α-NPD, DPVBi and rubrene in the emission characteristics of OLEDs. The turn-on voltage of screen-printed white OLEDs was about 10 V with maximum brightness and luminous efficiency up to 1300 cd/m² and 9 cd/A, respectively.     

White organic electroluminescence from fluorescent bis (2-(2-hydroxyphenyl) benzoxazolate)zinc doped with phosphorescent material

Efficient white electroluminescence has been obtained by using an electroluminescent layer comprising of a blue fluorescent bis (2-(2-hydroxyphenyl) benzoxazolate)zinc [Zn(hpb)₂] doped with red phosphorescent bis (2-(2′-benzothienyl) pyridinato-N,C^3′)iridium(acetylacetonate) [Ir(btp)₂acac] molecules. The color coordinates of the white emission spectrum was controlled by optimizing the concentration of red dopant in the blue fluorescent emissive layer. Organic light-emitting diodes were fabricated in the configuration ITO/α-NPD/Zn(hpb)₂:0.01 wt%Ir(btp)₂acac/BCP/Alq₃/LiF/Al. The J-V-L characteristic of the device shows a turn on voltage of 5 V. The electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the device cover a wide range of visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum with three peaks around 450, 485 and 610 nm. A maximum white luminance of 3500 cd/m² with CIE coordinates of (x, y=0.34, 0.27) at 15 V has been achieved. The maximum current efficiency and power efficiency of the device was 5.2 cd/A and 1.43 lm/W respectively at 11.5 V.     

Electroluminescence of organic light-emitting diodes consisting of an undoped (pbi)2Ir(acac) phosphorescent layer

The electroluminescence (EL) characteristics of phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with an undoped bis(1,2-dipheny1-1H-benzoimidazole) iridium (acetylacetonate) [(pbi)₂Ir(acac)] emissive layer (EML) of various film thicknesses were studied. The results showed that the intensity of green light emission decreased rapidly with the increasing thickness of (pbi)₂Ir(acac), which was relevant to the triplet excimer emission. It suggested that the concentration quenching of monomer emission in the undoped (pbi)₂Ir(acac) film was mainly due to the formation of triplet excimer and partly due to the triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) and triplet-polaron annihilation (TPA). A green OLED with a maximum luminance of 26,531 cd/m², a current efficiency of 36.2 cd/A, and a power efficiency of 32.4 lm/W was obtained, when the triplet excimer emission was eliminated. Moreover, the white OLED with low efficiency roll-off was realized due to the broadened recombination zone and reduced quenching effects in the EML when no electron blocking layer was employed.     

An organic light-emitting device with ultrathin quantum-well structure as light emitting layer

Both phosphorescent materials and devices, which emit red and green light, already have great performance and breakthrough. The biggest challenge and bottleneck is the blue phosphorescent device, if we want to popularize phosphorescent organic light-emitting device (OLED) in the full-color panel. This paper brings a new quantum-well structure in light-emitting layer. We select the commonly used phosphor materials, N,N′-dicarbazoly-2,5-benzene (mCP) and bis(3,5-difluoro-2-(2-pyridyl)phenyl-(2-carboxypyridyl)iridium(III) (FIrpic). The structure of the device is indium-tin oxide (ITO)/N,N′-bis(naphthalene-1-y1)-N,N′-bis(phenyl)-benzidine (NPB)/di-[4-(N,N-ditolyl-amino)-phenyl]cyclohexane (TAPC)/mCP/FIrpic/mCP/4,7-dipheny1-1,10-phenanthroline (Bphen)/Mg:Ag. The blue OLED of good performance is achieved by adjusting the thickness of FIrpic. When the thickness of FIrpic is 0.2 nm and the Current density is 34.86 mA/cm², the results show that the luminance of the device is 1000 cd/m², then the luminous power efficiency of the device is 6.01 lm/W. Meanwhile, the light emitting mechanism of ultrathin quantum-well structure is well studied, the quantum confinement effect and the role of quantum well structure as the light-emitting layer in the blue phosphorescent devices are mainly analyzed.     

Efficient white polymer light-emitting diodes based on a phosphorescent iridium complex and a fluorescent silole and carbazole copolymer

White polymer light-emitting diodes (WPLEDs) were fabricated with blue phosphorescent iridium bis(2-(4,6-difluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C²′) picolinate (FIrpic) and red fluorescent silole and carbazole copolymer PCz-MPTST within a poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK): 1,3-bis[(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4- oxadiazolyl] phenylene (OXD-7) host matrix. Efficient white emission consisting two emission peaks was achieved with luminous efficiency of 9.2 cd/A and CIE coordinates of (0.37, 0.40). By means of transient photoluminescence response, energy transfer among the blending components was investigated and discussed.     

Improved efficiencies of hybrid organic light‐emitting diodes using efficient electron injection layer

Hybrid organic‐inorganic light‐emitting diodes were developed with pristine ZnO (2.0 wt%) and Cu‐doped ZnO (2.0 wt%) as electron injection layer and iridium(III)‐bis‐2‐(4‐fluorophenyl)‐1‐(naphthalen‐1‐yl)‐1H‐phenanthro[9,10‐d]imidazole (acetylacetonate) [Ir(fpnpi)₂ (acac)] as green emissive layer (521 nm). The pristine ZnO and Cu‐doped ZnO are deposited at indium tin oxide cathode and emissive layer interface. The electroluminescent performances increased by electron injection layer–Cu‐doped ZnO compared with ZnO‐based device because Cu‐doped ZnO injects electron efficiently result in balanced h⁺ ? e^? recombination in emissive layer than ZnO‐based device. The Cu‐doped ZnO (2.0 %) device shows luminance (L) of 10 982 cd/m² at 23.0 V (ZnO, 1450 cd/m² at 23.0 V).     

Non-doped phosphorescent white organic light-emitting devices with a quadruple-quantum-well structure

Non-doped white organic light-emitting devices (WOLEDs) with a quadruple-quantum-well structure were fabricated. An alternate layer of ultrathin blue and yellow iridium complexes was employed as the potential well layer, while potential barrier layers (PBLs) were chosen to be 2,2',2''-(1,3,5-benzenetriyl)-tris(1-phenyl-1-H-benzimidazole) (TPBi) or N,N'-dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene (mCP) combined TPBi. On adjusting the PBLs for device performance comparison, the results showed that the device with all-TPBi PBLs exhibited a yellow emission with the color coordinates of (0.50,0.47) at a luminance of 1000 cd/m², while stable white emission with the color coordinates of (0.36,0.44) was observed in the device using mCP combined TPBi as the PBLs. Meanwhile, for the WOLED, with a reduced efficiency roll-off, a maximum luminance, luminous efficiency, and external quantum efficiency of 12,610 cd/m², 10.2 cd/A, and 4.4%, respectively, were achieved. The performance improvement by the introduction of mCP PBL was ascribed to the well confined exciton and the reduced exciton quenching effect in the multiple emission regions.     

New heteroleptic cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes containing 2-(2′,4′-difluorophenyl)-4-methylpyridine for organic light-emitting diode applications

Two phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes (dfpmpy)₂Ir(ppc) and (dfpmpy)₂Ir(prz) [dfpmpy=2-(2′,4′-difluorophenyl)-4-methylpyridine, ppc=pipecolinate, prz=2-pyrazine carboxylate] were synthesized from the reaction of the chloro-bridged dimeric complex [(dfpmpy)₂Ir(μ-Cl)]₂ and the ancillary ligand. Their structures and photoluminescence properties were investigated and device performances for application in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) were studied. The complexes adopt a distorted, octahedral geometry around the iridium metal, exhibiting cis C-C and trans N-N arrangements. The photoluminescent (PL) properties reveal that (dfpmpy)₂Ir(ppc) emits in the blue-green region (λ_max=497 nm), whereas (dfpmpy)₂Ir(prz) shows red phosphorescence (λ_max=543 nm) in the film state (5% wt. doped in PMMA). The (dfpmpy)₂Ir(ppc)- and (dfpmpy)₂Ir(prz)-based OLEDs exhibited sky-blue and greenish-yellow electroluminescence with similar current-voltage characteristics, repectively. Maximum current efficiency of (dfpmpy)₂Ir(ppc) and (dfpmpy)₂Ir(prz) were 4.4 and 7.4 cd/A, respectively. Maximum luminance values were approximately 10,000 cd/m² for the both compounds.     

High-performance organic red-light-emitting device based on DCJTB and a new host material

An efficient red-light-emitting device using a new host material (DPF) and a red dopant (DCJTB) with a configuration of ITO/NPB (50 nm)/DCJTB:DPF (2%, 10 nm)/TPBI (30 nm)/LiF (0.5 nm)/Mg:Ag has been fabricated and investigated. The red OLED yields a brightness of 9270 cd/m² at 10 V, a maximum current efficiency of 4.2 cd/A and a maximum power efficiency of 3.9 lm/W. Using DPF as host material, the performance is much better than that of a prototypical Alq₃-based device, which has a maximum efficiency of 1.9 cd/A and 0.6 lm/W. The performance is even comparable with red OLEDs using an assist dopant or a cohost emitter system. Results of this work indicate that DPF is a promising host material for red OLEDs with high efficiency and simple device structure.     

Highly efficient and stable organic light-emitting diodes employing MoO3-doped perylene-3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride as hole injection layer

We report highly efficient and stable organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with MoO₃-doped perylene-3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) as hole injection layer (HIL). A green OLED with structure of ITO/20 wt% MoO₃: PTCDA/NPB/Alq₃/LiF/Al shows a long lifetime of 1012 h at the initial luminance of 2000 cd/m², which is 1.3 times more stable than that of the device with MoO₃ as HIL. The current efficiency of 4.7 cd/A and power efficiency of 3.7 lm/W at about 100 cd/m² have been obtained. The charge transfer complex between PTCDA and MoO₃ plays a decisive role in improving the performance of OLEDs.     

Efficient Solution-Processed Blue Electrophosphorescent Devices Based on a Novel Small-Molecule Host

Efficient blue small molecular phosphorescent fight-emitting diodes with a blue phosphorescent dye bis（3,5- difluoro-2-（2-pyridyl）-phenyl-（2-carboxypride） iridium （Ⅲ） （Flrpic） doped into a novel small-molecule host 9,9- bis[4-（3,6-di-tert-butylcarbazol-9-yl）phenyl] fluorene （TBCPF） as the light-emitting layer have been fabricated by spin-coating. The host TBCPF can form homogeneous amorphous films by spin-coating and has triplet energy higher than that of the blue phosphorescent dye Flrpic. All the devices with different Flrpic concentration in the emitting layer give emission from Flrpic indicating complete energy transfer from TBCPF to Flrpic. The device shows the best performance with a peak brightness of 8050 cd/m^2 at 10.2 V and the maximum current efficiency up to 3.52 cd/A, when the Flrpic doped concentration is as high as 16%.     

Efficient white organic light-emitting diodes based on an orange iridium phosphorescent complex

Stable and efficient white light emission is obtained by mixing blue fluorescence and orange phosphorescence. The introduction of double exciton blocking layers brings about well confinement of both charge-carriers and excitons in the emission layer. By systematically adjusting blue fluorescent and orange phosphorescent emission layers thickness, carriers in emission zone are balanced, and electrically generated excitons can be efficiently utilized. One white device with power efficiency of 14.4 lm/W at 100 cd/m² has excellently stable spectra. The improvement of performance is attributed to efficient utilization of the excitons and more balance of charge-carriers in emission layer.