高效蓝光有机电致磷光主体材料的研究进展

磷光有机发光二极管(PHOLEDs)相对于传统的荧光有机电致发光具有更高的量子效率, 在平板显示和固态照明方面有极大的应用前景. 本工作将近几年来外量子效率高于20%的蓝光PHOLEDs中小分子主体材料进行总结, 并按空穴传输型、电子传输型和双极传输型主体材料分类, 重点介绍这些材料的分子结构、三线态能级、HOMO/LUMO能级、热稳定性、形态稳定性以及作为蓝光PHOLEDs主体材料的器件性能, 以期对主体材料的研究及OLED产业化提供参考价值.     

Room-Temperature Phosphorescence from a Series of 3-Pyridylcarbazole Derivatives

Exploration of pure metal-free organic molecules that exhibit strong room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) is an emerging research topic. In this regard, unveiling the design principles for an efficient RTP molecule is an essential, but challenging, task. A small molecule is an ideal platform to precisely understand the fundamental role of each functional component because the parent molecule can be easily derivatized. Here, the RTP behaviors of a series of 3-pyridylcarbazole derivatives are presented. Experimental studies in combination with theoretical calculations reveal the crucial role of the n orbital on the central pyridine ring in the dramatic enhancement of the intersystem crossing between the charge-transfer-excited singlet state and the locally excited triplet states. Single-crystal X-ray crystallographic studies apparently indicate that both the pyridine ring and fluorine atom contribute to the enhancement of the RTP because of the restricted motion owing to weak C−H⋅⋅⋅N and H⋅⋅⋅F hydrogen-bonding interactions. The single crystal of the fluorine-substituted derivative shows an ultra-long phosphorescent lifetime (τ_P) of 1.1 s and a phosphorescence quantum yield (Φ_P) of 1.2 %, whereas the bromine-substituted derivative exhibits τ_P of 0.15 s with a Φ_P of 7.9 %. We believe that this work provides a fundamental and universal guideline for the generation of pure organic molecules exhibiting strong RTP.     

Highly Efficient Orange and Warm White Phosphorescent OLEDs Based on a Host Material with a Carbazole–Fluorenyl Hybrid

A new carbazole–fluorenyl hybrid compound, 3,3′(2,7‐di(naphthaline‐2‐yl)‐9H‐fluorene‐9,9‐diyl)bis(9‐phenyl‐9H‐carbazole) (NFBC) was synthesized and characterized. The compound exhibits blue‐violet emission both in solution and in film, with peaks centered at 404 and 420 nm. In addition to the application as a blue emitter, NFBC is demonstrated to be a good host for phosphorescent dopants. By doping Ir(2‐phq)₃ in NFBC, a highly efficient orange organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) with a maximum efficiency of 32 cd A^?1 (26.5 Lm W^?1) was obtained. Unlike most phosphorescent OLEDs, the device prepared in our study shows little efficiency roll‐off at high brightness and maintains current efficiencies of 31.9 and 26.8 cd A^?1 at a luminance of 1000 and 10 000 cd m^?2, respectively. By using NFBC simultaneously as a blue fluorescence emitter and as a host for a phosphorescent dopant, a warm white OLED with a maximum efficiency of 22.9 Lm W^?1 (21.9 cd A^?1) was also obtained.     

A Silane-Based Bipolar Host with High Triplet Energy for High Efficiency Deep-Blue Phosphorescent OLEDs with Improved Device Lifetime

A high triplet energy host is developed using a silane moiety, 9-(4-(triphenylsilyl)dibenzo[b,d]furan-2-yl)-9H-carbazole (SiDBFCz), is designed through extensive density functional theory (DFT) calculations to obtain appropriate hole and electron injection barriers. The chemical hardness and the charge transport characteristics are comprehensively investigated to realize a bipolar host with high triplet energy over 2.9 eV for deep blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PHOLEDs). The synthesized SiDBFCz clearly exhibits the bipolar characteristics especially with emitter molecules doped. An external quantum efficiency over 19 % without any microcavity optimization is achieved thanks to the good charge balance in the SiDBFCz PHOLED. The device lifetime of the SiDBFCz PHOLED is improved more than 1000 %, compared to the unipolar control devices at an initial luminance of 500 cd m⁻². The dramatic enhancement of the operational stability of the deep blue PHOLED is also thoroughly investigated in terms of electrochemical stability of host molecules in charged or excited states. The results clearly indicate that the device lifetime is strongly correlated with the bond dissociation energy and the activation energy for the bond dissociation reaction in triplet excited state.     

Exciplex Formation and Electromer Blocking for Highly Efficient Blue Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence OLEDs with All-Solution-Processed Organic Layers

Highly efficient solution-processable emitters are greatly desired to develop low-cost organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The recently developed thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials are promising candidates, but blue TADF materials compatible with the all-solution-process have still not been achieved. Here, a series of TADF materials, named X-4CzCN, are developed by introducing the bulky units through an unconjugated linker, which realizes high molecular weight to enhance the solvent resistance ability without disturbing the blue TADF feature. Meanwhile, the peripheral wrapping groups efficiently inhibit the triplet–triplet and triplet–polaron quenching by isolating the energy-transfer and charge-transporting channels. The photophysical measurements indicate that a small variation in peripheral unit will have a noticeable effect on the luminescence efficiency. The enlarged volume of peripheral units will make the electroluminescent spectra blueshift, while enhancing the energy transfer of exciplex and blocking the energy leakage of electromer can facilitate the exciton utilization. As a result, the fully solution-processed blue OLED achieves a CIE of (0.16, 0.27), a low turn on voltage of 2.9 eV, and a high external quantum efficiency of 20.6 %. As far as we known, this is the first report of all-solution-processed TADF OLEDs with blue emission, which exhibits a high efficiency even comparable to the vacuum-deposited devices.     

Problems in the Study of Electro-Lum inescence Devices Based on Phosphorescent Dyes

本文从光物理和光化学的角度出发对磷光电致发光器件中的一些基本过程和问题, 如发光层材料的选择和激发, 主体化合物分子间的能量迁移, 主客体分子间的能量转移以及磷光的发射等进行了扼要的讨论, 并指出了在设计和制备这类新型的发光器件中应注意的一些问题。     

A Bipolar and Small Singlet‐Triplet Splitting Energy Host with Triplet Energy Lower Than a Blue Phosphor for Phosphorescent OLEDs in Panchromatic Range

A bipolar host material, 2,4,6‐tris(3‐(carbazol‐9‐yl)phenyl)‐triazine (TCPZ), was synthesized according to reported method. Due to the higher triplet energy compared to green and red phosphors, TCPZ is suitable to host them in phosphorescent organic light‐emitting diodes (PhOLEDs). Although the triplet of TCPZ is slightly lower than a common blue phosphor, good blue PhOLEDs using TCPZ as the host were successfully demonstrated in this work. By low temperature emission measurement, it was found that the energy splitting between the singlet and triplet of TCPZ is as small as 0.24 eV. Therefore, thermal activated energy transfer from triplet to singlet in the host TCPZ is expected to occur, which can be afterwards efficiently transferred to the blue phosphor, hence enabling it to host blue phosphor. As a result, TCPZ can be used as host for phosphors in panchromatic range. Additionally, single‐carrier devices clearly prove its good bipolar transport feature, beneficial to device performance. By using TCPZ as a host, high performance deep‐red, green and blue PhOLEDs have been achieved, with maximum efficiencies of 9.3 cd·A^?1 (13.2%), 81.3 cd·A^?1 (23.1%) and 17.03 cd·A^?1 (10.4%), respectively.     

Precise Design of Phosphorescent Molecular Butterflies with Tunable Photoinduced Structural Change and Dual Emission

Photoinduced structural change (PSC) is a fundamental excited‐state dynamic process in chemical and biological systems. However, precise control of PSC processes is very challenging, owing to the lack of guidelines for designing excited‐state potential energy surfaces (PESs). A series of rationally designed butterfly‐like phosphorescent binuclear platinum complexes that undergo controlled PSC by Pt–Pt distance shortening and exhibit tunable dual (greenish‐blue and red) emission are herein reported. Based on the Bell–Evans–Polanyi principle, it is demonstrated how the energy barrier of the PSC, which can be described as a chemical‐reaction‐like process between the two energy minima on the first triplet excited‐state PES, can be controlled by synthetic means. These results reveal a simple method to engineer the dual emission of molecular systems by manipulating PES to control PSC.     

基于香豆素衍生物的新型绿色/红色磷光有机电致发光主体材料的设计、合成及性能表征

设计并合成了一种新型的香豆素衍生物,3,3-’(1,3-苯基)双(7-乙氧基-4-甲基香豆素)(mEMCB),并系统地对该香豆素衍生物进行了结构表征、光物理性能、热物理性能及电化学性能的研究.mEMCB具有较高的三重态能级(2.42eV),可敏化绿色、红色磷光掺杂材料.同时,mEMCB还具有较好的热稳定性(T_g:79.72℃,T_d:361.49℃),其T_g明显高于目前广泛使用的磷光主体材料CBP.研究结果表明,mEMCB是一个潜在的可以用于绿色和红色磷光有机电致发光器件的主体材料.     

Rational Design of a Near-infrared Fluorescent Material with High Solid-state Efficiency,Aggregation-induced Emission and Live Cell Imaging Property

Near-infrared(NIR) fluorescent materials with high photoluminescent quantum yields(PLQYs) have wide application prospects. Therefore, we design and synthesize a D-A type NIR organic molecule, TPATHCNE, in which triphenylamine and thiophene are utilized as the donors and fumaronitrile is applied as the acceptor. We systematically investigate its molecular structure and photophysical property. TPATHCNE shows high T_gof 110℃ and T_d of 385℃ and displays an aggregation-induced emission(AIE) property. A narrow optical bandgap of 1.65 eV is obtained. The non-doped film of TPATHCNE exhibits a high PLQY of 40.3% with an emission peak at 732 nm, which is among the best values of NIR emitters. When TPATHCNE is applied in organic light-emitting diode(OLED), the electroluminescent peak is located at 716 nm with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 0.83%. With the potential in cell imaging, the polystyrene maleic anhydride(PMSA) modified TPATHCNE nanoparticles(NPs) emit strong fluorescence when labeling HeLa cancer cells, suggesting that TPATHCNE can be used as a fluorescent carrier for specific staining or drug delivery for cellular imaging. TPATHCNE NPs fabricated by bovine serum protein(BSA) are cultivated with mononuclear yeast cells, and the intense intracellular red fluorescence indicates that it can be adopted as a specific stain for imaging.     

A Simple Organic Molecule Realizing Simultaneous TADF,RTP, AIE,and Mechanoluminescence: Understanding the Mechanism Behind the Multifunctional Emitter

Aggregation‐induced emission (AIE), thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP), and mechanoluminescence (ML) have attracted widespread interest. However, a multifunctional organic emitter exhibiting simultaneous AIE, TADF, RTP, and ML has not been reported. Now, two multifunctional blue emitters with very simple structures, mono‐DMACDPS and Me‐DMACDPS, exhibit typical AIE, TADF, and RTP properties but different behavior in mechanoluminescence. Crystal structure analysis reveals that large dipole moment and multiple intermolecular interactions with tight packing mode endow mono‐DMACDPS with strong ML. Combined with the data of crystal analysis and theoretical calculation, the separated monomer and dimer in the crystal lead to the typical TADF and RTP properties, respectively. Simple‐structure mono‐DMACDPS is the first example realizing TADF, RTP, AIE, and ML simultaneously.     

Constructing a Novel Dendron for a Self‐Host Blue Emitter with Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence: Solution‐Processed Nondoped Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes with Bipolar Charge Transfer and Stable Color Purity

Self‐host thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials have recently been identified as effective emitters for solution‐processed nondoped organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, except for the carbazole unit, few novel dendrons have been developed to build self‐host TADF emitters. This study reports two self‐host blue materials, tbCz‐SO and poCz‐SO, with the same TADF emissive core and different dendrons. The influence of the peripheral dendrons on the photophysical properties and electroluminescent performances of the self‐host materials were systematically investigated. The transient fluorescence and electroluminescence spectra indicated that the diphenylphosphoryl carbazole units could effectively encapsulate the emissive core to reduce the concentration quenching effect and to enhance reverse intersystem crossing. By using tbCz‐SO and poCz‐SO as host‐free blue emitters, the performance of the solution‐processed nondoped OLED device demonstrated that a more balanced charge transfer from the bipolar dendrons would offer a better current efficiency of 10.5 cd A⁻¹ and stable color purity with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage units of (0.18, 0.27).     

电致蓝光芴取代聚芴的合成与光谱稳定性

为了筛选高效稳定的聚合物电致蓝光材料, 设计合成了三苯胺和芴取代的二芳基芴单体, 并通过Suzuki缩聚合成了交替共聚物TPAFF-co-F和TPAFF-co-P. 将二辛基芴引入聚芴的9位可以增加其溶解度, 同时具有屏蔽主链和减少主链芴9位被氧化的作用, 三苯胺基团将有利于提高空穴在阳极界面的注入能力. 200 ℃下空气中退火24 h实验表明, 在相同条件下, 绿光指数(Igreen/Iblue)顺序为聚(9,9-二辛基芴)(1.07)>TPAFF-co-F(0.65)>TPAFF-co-P (0.47), 证明了烷基芴引入减少了主链氧化的几率. 还制作了发光二极管器件, 其结构为ITO/PEDOT:PSS(40 nm)/TPAFF-co-F或TPAFF-co-P(80 nm)/Ba(4 nm)/Al(120 nm). 在高电流密度下它们保持了良好的光谱稳定性, 在547 mA·cm-2电流密度下, TPAFF-co-F的CIE(国际发光照明委员会)坐标为(0.22, 0.24), TPAFF-co-P的CIE坐标为(0.24, 0.26), 后者的电流效率为0.712 cd·A-1.     

Molecular Topology Tuning of Bipolar Host Materials Composed of Fluorene‐Bridged Benzimidazole and Carbazole for Highly Efficient Electrophosphorescence

Two new molecules, CzFCBI and CzFNBI , have been tailor‐made to serve as bipolar host materials to realize high‐efficiency electrophosphorescent devices. The molecular design is configured with carbazole as the hole‐transporting block and N‐phenylbenzimidazole as the electron‐transporting block hybridized through the saturated bridge center (C9) and meta‐conjugation site (C3) of fluorene, respectively. With structural topology tuning of the connecting manner between N‐phenylbenzimidazole and the fluorene core, the resulting physical properties can be subtly modulated. Bipolar host CzFCBI with a C connectivity between phenylbenzimidazole and the fluorene bridge exhibited extended π conjugation; therefore, a low triplet energy of 2.52 eV was observed, which is insufficient to confine blue phosphorescence. However, the monochromatic devices indicate that the matched energy‐level alignment allows CzFCBI to outperform its N‐connected counterpart CzFNBI while employing other long‐wavelength‐emitting phosphorescent guests. In contrast, the high triplet energy (2.72 eV) of CzFNBI imparted by the N connectivity ensures its utilization as a universal bipolar host for blue‐to‐red phosphors. With a common device configuration, CzFNBI has been utilized to achieve highly efficient and low‐roll‐off devices with external quantum efficiency as high as 14 % blue, 17.8 % green, 16.6 % yellowish‐green, 19.5 % yellow, and 18.6 % red. In addition, by combining yellowish‐green with a sky‐blue emitter and a red emitter, a CzFNBI ‐hosted single‐emitting‐layer all‐phosphor three‐color‐based white electrophosphorescent device was successfully achieved with high efficiencies (18.4 %, 36.3 cd A^?1, 28.3 lm W^?1) and highly stable chromaticity (CIE x=0.43–0.46 and CIE y=0.43) at an applied voltage of 8 to 12 V, and a high color‐rendering index of 91.6.