Phenylcarbazole and phosphine oxide/sulfide hybrids as host materials for blue phosphors: effectively tuning the charge injection property without influencing the triplet energy

Compared with red and green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PHOLEDs), efficient blue PHOLEDs are still scarce, because it is difficult for the host materials for blue phosphors to achieve a trade-off between a wide triplet energy and good charge injection properties. We theoretically studied a series of hybrid phosphine oxide/sulfide-phenylcarbazole host molecules (PO(S)PhCBZs) for blue phosphors through different linkage modes between phenylcarbazole (PhCBZ) and phosphine oxide/sulfide (PO/PS) moieties. The results indicate that the singlet excitons of all PO(S)-PhCBZs are delocalized over the entire molecule with intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) character and different linkage modes cause various degrees of ICT, which determines the injection abilities of carriers from neighboring layers following the order: PO-Phs (PO linked to the phenyl of PhCBZ) > para-POs (PO linked to the para-positions of PhCBZ) > meta-POs (PO linked to the meta-positions of PhCBZ). By contrast, the triplet excitons are confined to the carbazole unit for all PO(S)-PhCBZs. High triplet energies (E(T)) are therefore kept up for all systems, except for para-POs showing a slight drop in E(T) due to the delocalization of their triplet excitons to the phenyl moiety of PhCBZ. All hybrid PO(S)-PhCBZs, especially PO(s)-Phs, exhibit an enhancement in electron injection and triplet energy compared with the most widely used host material (N,N-dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene) for blue PHOLEDs, and thereby have great potential for application in highly efficient light emitting diodes.     

Rationally Investigating the Influence of T1 Location on Electroluminescence Performance of Aryl Amine Modified Phosphine Oxide Materials

The correspondence between triplet location effect and host‐localized triplet–triplet annihilation and triplet–polaron quenching effects was performed on the basis of a series of naphthyldiphenylamine (DPNA)‐modified phosphine oxide hosts. The number and ratio of DPNA and diphenylphosphine oxide was adjusted to afford symmetrical and unsymmetrical molecular structures and different electronic environments. As designed, the first triplet (T₁) states were successfully localized on the specific DPNA chromophores. Owing to the meso‐ and multi‐insulating linkages, identical optical properties and comparable electrical performance was observed, including the same first singlet (S₁) and T₁ energy levels to support the similar singlet and triplet energy transfer and the close frontier molecular orbital energy levels. This established the basis of rational investigation on T₁ location effect without interference from other optoelectronic factors.     

Elevating the Triplet Energy Levels of Dibenzofuran‐Based Ambipolar Phosphine Oxide Hosts for Ultralow‐Voltage‐Driven Efficient Blue Electrophosphorescence: From D?A to D?π?A Systems

A series of donor (D)–π–acceptor (A)‐type phosphine‐oxide hosts ( DBF _x POPhCz _n ), which were composed of phenylcarbazole, dibenzofuran ( DBF ), and diphenylphosphine‐oxide (DPPO) moieties, were designed and synthesized. Phenyl π‐spacer groups were inserted between the carbazolyl and DBF groups, which effectively weakened the charge transfer and triplet‐excited‐state extension. As the result, the first triplet energy levels (T₁) of DBF _x POPhCz _n are elevated to about 3.0 eV, 0.1 eV higher than their D? A‐type analogues. Nevertheless, the electrochemical analysis and DFT calculations demonstrated the ambipolar characteristics of DBF _x POPhCz _n . The phenyl π spacers hardly influenced the frontier molecular orbital (FMO) energy levels and the carrier‐transporting ability of the materials. Therefore, these D? π? A systems are endowed with higher T₁ states, as well as comparable electrical properties to D? A systems. Phosphorescent blue‐light‐emitting diodes (PHOLEDs) that were based on DBF _x POPhCz _n not only inherited the ultralow driving voltages (2.4 V for onset, about 2.8 V at 200 cd m^?2, and <3.4 V at 1000 cd m^?2) but also had much‐improved efficiencies, including about 26 cd A^?1 for current efficiency, 30 Lm W^?1 for power efficiency, and 13 % for external quantum efficiency, which were more than twice the values of devices that are based on conventional unipolar host materials. This performance makes DBFDPOPhCz _n among the best hosts for ultralow‐voltage‐driven blue PHOLEDs reported so far.     

A dibenzofuran-based host material for blue electrophosphorescence

Dibenzofuran (DBF) is converted to a vacuum-sublimable, electron-transporting host material via 2,8-substitution with diphenylphosphine oxide moieties. Close pi-pi stacking and the inductive influence of P=O moieties impart favorable electron-transport properties without lowering the triplet energy. A maximum external quantum efficiency of 10.1% and luminance power efficiency of 25.9 lm/W are realized using this material as the host for the blue-green electrophosphorescent molecule, iridium(III) bis(4,6-(di-fluorophenyl)pyridinato-N,C(2')picolinate (FIrpic).     

Synthesis of new bipolar materials based on diphenylphosphine oxide and triphenylamine units: efficient host for deep-blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes

This paper reports the synthesis and physical properties of a series of bipolar host materials, using of a hole-transporting triphenylamine (TPA) monomer as a core incorporated with different numbers of diphenylphosphine oxide (PO) as electron-transporting moieties, 4-(diphenylphosphoryl)-N,N-diphenylaniline (DDPA), 4-(diphenylphosphoryl)-N-(4-(diphenylphosphoryl)phenyl)-N-phenylaniline (DDPP), and tris(4-(diphenylphosphoryl)phenyl)amine (TDPA), for solution-processed deep-blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices (PhOLEDs). With the increasing numbers of PO units, the glass-transition temperature of those compounds rise gradually. Moreover, the newly synthesized compounds all possess high triplet energies, which can prevent back energy transfer between the host and dopant molecules, and are expected to serve as appropriate hosts for iridium(III) tris(3,5-difluoro-4-cyanophenyl)pyridinato-N,C′ (FCNIrpic). The solution-processed devices using DDPP and TDPA as the hosts for the phosphorescence emitter FCNIrpic showed the maximum luminance efficiencies of 9.7 and 6.6 cd A⁻¹, respectively. The efficiency of TDPA based device shows nearly three times higher than the value of commonly used host material 1,3-bis(9-carbazolyl)benzene (mCP) with the same structure, which is outstanding with respect to other works related to the solution-processed deep-blue PhOLEDs based on small-molecule hosts.     

A novel electron transport material with triazole and diphenylphosphine oxide moieties for high efficiency OLEDs

A novel electron transport material with 1,2,4-triazole and diphenylphosphine oxide moieties (TPO) has been designed and synthesized. The material exhibits wide energy gap (3.77 eV), deep HOMO level (−6.28 eV), high triplet energy (2.86 eV), high glass transition temperature (133 °C) and high thermal stability (decomposition temperature at 423 °C). Device using TPO as electron transport material showed lower driving voltage and higher efficiency compared with the commonly used electron transport materials, such as 3,5-bis(4-tert-butylphenyl)-4-phenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole (TAZ), 1,3,5-tris(1-phenyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)benzene (TPBI) and 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BCP).     

Benzimidazobenzothiazole‐Based Bipolar Hosts to Harvest Nearly All of the Excitons from Blue Delayed Fluorescence and Phosphorescent Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes

Much effort has been devoted to developing highly efficient organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) that function through phosphorescence or thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). However, efficient host materials for blue TADF and phosphorescent guest emitters are limited because of their requirement of high triplet energy levels. Herein, we report the rigid acceptor unit benzimidazobenzothiazole (BID‐BT), which is suitable for use in bipolar hosts in blue OLEDs. The designed host materials, based on BID‐BT, possess high triplet energy and bipolar carrier transport ability. Both blue TADF and phosphorescent OLEDs containing BID‐BT‐based derivatives exhibit external quantum efficiencies as high as 20 %, indicating that these hosts allow efficient triplet exciton confinement appropriate for blue TADF and phosphorescent guest emitters.     

含吡啶基团的双极主体材料的合成、性能与蓝光电致磷光器件研究

吡啶类衍生物具有较好的电子传输性能和较高的三线态能级,在有机电致发光中一般用来构建电子传输材料或主体材料中的电子传输单元.本文通过将吡啶的2,6位与三苯胺或N-苯基-咔唑的邻位连接设计合成了两个基于吡啶的双极主体材料DTPAPPy和DCzPPy.它们的三线态能级分别为2.64和2.70eV.以它们作为主体材料制备的基于Firpic的蓝光磷光器件最大电流效率分别为15.4和25.3cd/A.     

Flavanthrene derivatives as photostable and efficient singlet exciton fission materials

Singlet exciton fission (SF) is believed to have the potential to break the Shockley–Queisser limit for third-generation solar cell devices, so it has attracted great attention. Conventional linear acene based SF materials generally suffer from low triplet energy and poor photostability. We report herein two flavanthrene derivatives, EH-Fla and TIPS-Fla, as new photostable singlet exciton fission materials. These N-doped two-dimensional angular fused acenes have three sets of aromatic Clar sextets, making them significantly more stable than linear acenes with only one sextet. Time-resolved spectroscopy characterization reveals that the SF process occurs in the polycrystalline films of EH-Fla and TIPS-Fla, with maximal triplet yields of 32% and 159%, respectively. The SF processes of these two molecules are mediated by excimer states. In EH-Fla, the low-lying excimer prevents the SF process from occurring effectively, resulting in a low triplet yield. In contrast, the excimer state in TIPS-Fla is mixed with strong CT coupling, which prompts efficient SF and results in a high triplet yield. Our results show that flavanthrene is a promising SF chromophore for photoenergy conversion applications, while a fine-tune of the intermolecular interaction is crucial for achieving high SF efficiency.

Flavanthrene derivatives can be designed into highly efficient and photostable singlet fission materials, owning to the N-doped two-dimensional angular fused acene framework, which is promising for photo energy conversion applications.     

Organic host materials for phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes

Phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs) unfurl a bright future for the next generation of flat-panel displays and lighting sources due to their merit of high quantum efficiency compared with fluorescent OLEDs. This critical review focuses on small-molecular organic host materials as triplet guest emitters in PhOLEDs. At first, some typical hole and electron transport materials used in OLEDs are briefly introduced. Then the hole transport-type, electron transport-type, bipolar transport host materials and the pure-hydrocarbon compounds are comprehensively presented. The molecular design concept, molecular structures and physical properties such as triplet energy, HOMO/LUMO energy levels, thermal and morphological stabilities, and the applications of host materials in PhOLEDs are reviewed (152 references).     

Using an Organic Molecule with Low Triplet Energy as a Host in a Highly Efficient Blue Electrophosphorescent Device

To achieve high efficiencies in blue phosphorescent organic light‐emitting diodes (PhOLEDs), the triplet energies (T₁) of host materials are generally supposed to be higher than the blue phosphors. A small organic molecule with low singlet energy (S₁) of 2.80 eV and triplet energy of 2.71 eV can be used as the host material for the blue phosphor, [bis(4,6‐difluorophenylpyridinato‐N,C^2′)iridium(III)] tetrakis(1‐pyrazolyl)borate (FIr6; T₁=2.73 eV). In both the photo‐ and electro‐excited processes, the energy transfer from the host material to FIr6 was found to be efficient. In a three organic‐layer device, the maximum current efficiency of 37 cd A^?1 and power efficiency of 40 Lm W^?1 were achieved for the FIr6‐based blue PhOLEDs.     

Triphenyl phosphine oxide and carbazole-based polymer host materials for green phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes

Four novel polymers, poly(3,6-9-decyl-carbazole-alt-1,3-benzene)(PB13CZ), poly(3,6-9-decyl-carbazole-altbis(4-phenyl)(phenyl) phosphine oxide)(PTPPO38CZ), poly(3,6-9-decyl-carbazole-alt-2,4-phenyl(diphenyl) phosphine oxide)(PTPPO13CZ) and poly(3,6-9-decyl-carbazole-alt-bis(3-phenyl)(phenyl) phosphine oxide)(PTTPO27CZ) were synthesized, and their thermal, photophysical properties and device applications were further investigated to correlate the chemical structures with the photoelectric performance of bipolar host materials for phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes. All of them show high thermal stability as revealed by their high glass transition temperatures and thermal decomposition temperatures at 5% weight loss. These polymers have wide band gaps and relatively high triplet energy levels. As a result, the spin coating method was used to prepare the green phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes with polymers PTPPO38 CZ, PTPPO13 CZ and PTTPO27 CZ as the typical host materials. The green device of polymer PTPPO38 CZ as host material shows electroluminescent performance with maximum current efficiency of 2.16 cd·A~(-1), maximum external quantum efficiency of 0.7%, maximum brightness of 1475 cd·m~(-2) and reduced efficiency roll-off of 7.14% at 600 cd·m~(-2), which are much better than those of the same devices hosted by polymers PTTPO27 CZ and PTPPO13 CZ.     

Novel tri-carbazole modified fluorene host material for highly efficient solution-processed blue and green electrophosphorescent devices

A series of novel solution-processable small-molecule host materials: 2DPF-TCz, 2SBF-TCz, 27DPF-TCz, and 27SBF-TCz comprising a fluorene monomer as the rigid core and tri-carbazole as the periphery have been designed and synthesized, and their optical, electrochemical, and thermal properties have been fully characterized. The host materials exhibit high glass-transition temperatures (231–310 °C) and high triplet energy levels (2.61–2.73 eV). High-quality amorphous thin films can be obtained by spin-coating the host materials from solutions. It is found that the HOMO level of the host materials can be tuned by linking the tri-carbazole unit to the 2,7 positions of the fluorine core, resulting in appropriate HOMO energy levels (−5.36 to −5.23 eV) for improved hole-injection in the device. Solution-processed blue and green electrophosphorescent devices bases on the developed host materials exhibit high efficiencies of 21.2 and 34.8 cd A⁻¹, respectively.     

Theoretical investigations on electronic structures and photophysical properties of N-heteroaryl carbazole derivatives as host materials

The carbazole-endcapped host molecules with tailoring different heteroaryl core and meta-position linkage mode have great potential on phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes. To provide a profound view on structure?Cproperty relationships, new linear-shaped counterparts have been designed based on the existing molecular composition and the linkage at para-position (p-type molecules). A series of studies about the influence of the linkage mode on optical and electronic properties of these carbazole derivatives have carried out via density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory calculations. The geometric and the electronic structure of these molecules in the ground states, ions states, and lowest triplet states have been calculated especially focusing on the analysis of highest occupied molecular orbitals, lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals, energy gaps, triplet energies, ionization potentials, electron affinities, reorganization energies, triplet exciton-formation fraction, and absorption spectra. These optoelectronic properties can be effectively tuned by the chemical modifications of different linkage pattern. The good coordination between our calculated results and the available experimental data has been observed. The study reveals that the designed p-type molecules show great promise as new high-performance red host materials with large triplet energy, narrow energy gap, good electron and hole-transport properties, and high triplet exciton-formation fraction.     

基于闭环二苯醚与磷氧基团的主体材料的合成及其在蓝色磷光有机发光二极管中的应用

本文通过多步有机反应制备了化合物9-苯基-9′-（4-二苯基氧化膦）苯基-氧杂蒽[diphenyl（4-（9-phenyl-9H-xanthen-9-yl）phenyl）phosphine oxide,DPPO],低温磷光发射光谱测试表明该化合物具有高的三线态能级（2.88eV）,它可以作为天蓝色磷光发光材料双（4,6-二氟苯基吡啶-N,C2）吡啶甲酰合铱[bis（3,5-difluoro-2-（2-pyridyl）phenyl-（2-carboxypyridyl）iridium（Ⅲ）,FIrpic,ET=2.62eV]的主体材料.将主体材料DPPO用于蓝色磷光有机发光二极管中,该器件在100cd/m2的亮度下,电流效率和流明效率分别达到30.6cd/A和19.2lm/W,最大外量子效率达到13.6%.     

Convergent Modulation of Singlet and Triplet Excited States of Phosphine‐Oxide Hosts through the Management of Molecular Structure and Functional‐Group Linkages for Low‐Voltage‐Driven Electrophosphorescence

The controllable tuning of the excited states in a series of phosphine‐oxide hosts ( DPExPOCzn ) was realized through introducing carbazolyl and diphenylphosphine‐oxide (DPPO) moieties to adjust the frontier molecular orbitals, molecular rigidity, and the location of the triplet excited states by suppressing the intramolecular interplay of the combined multi‐insulating and meso linkage. On increasing the number of substituents, simultaneous lowering of the first singlet energy levels (S₁) and raising of the first triplet energy levels (T₁, about 3.0 eV) were achieved. The former change was mainly due to the contribution of the carbazolyl group to the HOMOs and the extended conjugation. The latter change was due to an enhanced molecular rigidity and the shift of the T₁ states from the diphenylether group to the carbazolyl moieties. This kind of convergent modulation of excited states not only facilitates the exothermic energy transfer to the dopants in phosphorescent organic light‐emitting diodes (PHOLEDs), but also realizes the fine‐tuning of electrical properties to achieve the balanced carrier injection and transportation in the emitting layers. As the result, the favorable performance of blue‐light‐emitting PHOLEDs was demonstrated, including much‐lower driving voltages of 2.6 V for onset and 3.0 V at 100 cd m^?2, as well as a remarkably improved E.Q.E. of 12.6 %.     

Inclusion property and Diels-Alder reaction of bis (diphenylphosphine oxide) butadiyne

The host molecule, bis (diphenylphosphine oxide) butadiyne (2), includes a variety of guests to form five complexes (2a-2e). In addition, the Diels-Alder reaction between 2 and anthracene gives 9, 9', 10, 10'-tetrahedron-9, 9', 10, 10'-bi-ethenoantracene-11, 11'-bis ( diphenylphosphine oxide) (3) which is a potential di-π-methane reactant and can undergo photorearrangement.     

Singlet Fission in Pyrene‐Fused Azaacene Dimers

Singlet fission has emerged as a promising strategy to avoid the loss of extra energy through thermalization in solar cells. A family of dimers consisting of nitrogen‐doped pyrene‐fused acenes that undergo singlet fission with triplet quantum yields as high as 125 % are presented. They provide new perspectives for nitrogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and for the design of new materials for singlet fission.     

Multifunctional Materials Serving as Efficient Non-Doped Violet-Blue Emitters and Host Materials for Phosphorescence

Efficient multifunctional materials acting as violet-blue emitters, as well as host materials for phosphorescent OLEDs, are crucial but rare due to demand that they should have high first singlet state (S₁) energy and first triplet state (T₁) energy simultaneously. In this study, two new violet-blue bipolar fluorophores, TPA-PI-SBF and SBF-PI-SBF , were designed and synthesized by introducing the hole transporting moiety triphenylamine (TPA) and spirobifluorene (SBF) unit that has high T₁ into high deep blue emission quantum yield group phenanthroimidazole (PI). As the results, the non-doped OLEDs based on TPA-PI-SBF exhibited excellent EL performance with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE_max) of 6.76 % and a violet-blue emission with Commission Internationale de L′Eclairage (CIE) of (0.152, 0.059). The device based on SBF-PI-SBF displayed EQE_max of 6.19 % with CIE of (0.159, 0.049), which nearly matches the CIE coordinates of the violet-blue emitters standard of (0.131, 0.046). These EL performances are comparable to the best reported non-doped deep or violet-blue emissive OLEDs with CIEy<0.06 in recent years. Additionally, the green, yellow and red phosphorescent OLEDs with TPA-PI-SBF and SBF-PI-SBF as host materials achieved a high EQE_max of about 20 % and low efficiency roll-off at the ultra-high luminance of 10 000 cd m⁻². These results provided a new construction strategy for designing high-performance violet-blue emitters, as well as efficient host materials for phosphorescent OLEDs.     

Synthesis, characterization and applications of vinylsilafluorene copolymers: New host materials for electroluminescent devices

Vinylsilafluorene (VSiF) was successfully synthesized and copolymerized with vinylcarbazole and methyl methacrylate via free radical copolymerization for the first time. The synthesis, photophysical properties, computational modeling studies, and organic light-emitting devices of the VSiF copolymers were presented. The good coordinated photoluminescent (PL) spectra with the absorption of blue light-emitting materials and the high energy band-gap of the VSiF copolymers were observed. Higher triplet band gap (³ E _g) to host the blue phosphorescent emitters and better HOMO and LUMO than PVK for electron and hole injection and transportation of the VSiF model compounds were revealed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The preliminary device results in applications of these copolymers as host materials for green phosphorescent emitters demonstrate the copolymers of VSiF and vinylcarbazole have comparable device performance of polyvinylcarazole (PVK), suggesting a bright future of VSiF as building blocks for host materials.