High performance polymer light-emitting diodes doped with a novel phosphorescent iridium complex

High performance polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) based on a phosphor of noble metal complex bis(1,2-dipheny1-1H-benzoimidazole) iridium (acetylacetonate) [(pbi)₂Ir(acac)] doped in poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) host with various concentration were demonstrated. The photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the PLEDs exhibited an emission intensity decrease of PVK and a gradually enhanced feature of (pbi)₂Ir(acac) with increased doping concentration. The device with a 5 wt% (pbi)₂Ir(acac) doped PVK system showed a high power efficiency of 3.84 lm/W and a luminance of 26,006 cd/m². The results indicated that both energy transfer and charge trapping have a significant influence on the performance of PLEDs. The devices have a broadened EL spectrum of full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) more than 100 nm, which can be realized for WOLEDs.