White emission from dinuclear cyclometalated platinum(II) complex in single-emitting layer PLEDs

A dinuclear platinum(II) complex of (dfppy)₂Pt₂(dipic) has been prepared, where dfppy is 2,4-difluorophenylpyridine and dipic is a biphenyl-bridged bi-picolinic acid derivative. Its physical and optoelectronic properties, as well as molecular orbitals calculation have been investigated and compared with those of its mono-nuclear (dfppy)Pt(pic) complex. Both platinum(II) complexes exhibited almost identical photoluminescence (PL) spectra with deep blue emission in dilute dichloro-methane (10⁻⁵ M) and different PL spectra with red emission in their neat films. Stable white emissions were obtained in the (dfppy)₂Pt₂(dipic)-doped polymer light-emitting devices using a blend of poly(vinylcarbazole) and 2-(4-biphenyl)-5-(4-tert-butyl-phenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole as a host matrix at dopant concentrations from 1 wt % to 10 wt %. In contrast, the (dfppy)Pt(pic)-doped devices exhibited orange-red emissions in the same device configuration. It indicates that dinuclear platinum(II) complex with a non-planar structure is an effective way to control formation excimers of platinum(II) complex and get white-emitting PLEDs with single dopant.