Ai-Min Ren

Thiazole-based metallophosphors of iridium with balanced carrier injection/transporting features and their two-colour WOLEDs fabricated by both vacuum deposition and solution processing-vacuum deposition hybrid strategy

New phosphorescent iridium(III) cyclometallated complexes bearing thiazole-based ligands (IrTZ1 and IrTZ2) have been developed. The functionalized organic ligands derived by combining the thiazolyl moiety and triphenylamino group have conferred not only favorable hole-injection/hole-transporting (HI/HT) features but also more balanced charge carrier injection/transporting traits to the as-prepared iridium(III) metallophosphors. Owing to the unique electronic structures afforded by the ligand, the orange organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) made from IrTZ1 can furnish peak external quantum efficiency (ηext) of 14.82%, luminance efficiency (ηL) of 39.97 cd A−1 and power efficiency (ηp) of 34.95 lm W−1. Inspired by its outstanding electroluminescence (EL) performance, the orange IrTZ1 phosphor complemented with a blue phosphor FIrpic was employed to fabricate highly efficient white organic light-emitting devices (WOLEDs) with a single emission layer. Despite their simple device configuration, the optimized WOLEDs can still maintain decent electroluminescence (EL) ability with ηext of 7.20%, ηL of 18.07 cd A−1 and ηp of 19.57 lm W−1. With the aim to simplify the fabrication process of multi-layered WOLEDs, two-component WOLEDs were obtained through a novel solution processing–vacuum deposition hybrid method with the doped blue fluorescent emission layer deposited by a solution process and the orange phosphorescent emission layer made by vacuum deposition. The WOLEDs prepared using such exploratory approach can show an attractive EL performance with ηext of 9.06%, ηL of 22.72 cd A−1 and ηp of 17.28 lm W−1. All these data have indicated not only the great potential of the orange phosphor in monochromatic and white OLEDs, but also the importance of the hybrid method for simplifying WOLED fabrication.

Theoretical study on photophysical properties of ambipolar spirobifluorene derivatives as efficient blue-light-emitting materials.

The aim of this work is to provide an in-depth interpretation of the optical and electronic properties of a series of spirobifluorene derivatives. These materials show great potential for application in organic light-emitting diodes as efficient blue-light-emitting materials due to the tuning of the optical and electronic properties by the use of different electron donors (D) and electron acceptors (A). The geometric and electronic structures of the molecules in the ground state are studied with density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio HF, whereas the lowest singlet excited states are optimized by ab initio CIS. The energies of the lowest singlet excited states are calculated by employing time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). The results show that the HOMOs, LUMOs, energy gaps, ionization potentials, electron affinities, reorganization energies, and exciton binding energies for these complexes are affected by different D and A moieties. Also, it has obtained that these blue-light-emitting materials have improved charge transport rate and charge transfer balance performance and can be used as efficient ambipolar-transporting materials in organic light-emitting diodes.

Structural, electronic, and optical properties of phosphole-containing π-conjugated oligomers for light-emitting diodes

The purpose of this work is to provide an in‐depth interpretation of the optical and electronic properties of a series of phosphole derivatives, including 2,5‐diphenylthiooxophosphole (2a), 2‐phenyl‐5‐biphenylthiooxophosphole (3a), 2‐phenyl‐5‐stilbenylthiooxophosphole (4a), 2,5‐dithienylthiooxophosphole (2b), 2‐thienyl‐5‐biphenylthiooxophosphole (3b), 2‐thienyl‐5‐stilbenylthiooxophosphole (4b), and dibenzophosphole 1. These thiooxophospholes show great potential for application in OLEDs as efficient red emitters due to the tuning of the optical and electronic properties by the use of various substituents at the 2,5‐positions of the phosphole ring. The geometric and electronic structures of the oligomers in the ground state were investigated using density functional theory (DFT) and the ab initio HF, whereas the lowest singlet excited states were optimized with ab initio CIS. To assign the absorption and emission peaks observed in the experiment, we computed the energies of the lowest singlet excited states with time‐dependent DFT (TD‐DFT). All DFT calculations were performed using the B3LYP functional and the 6‐31G (d) basis set. The results show that the HOMOs, LUMOs, energy gaps, ionization potentials, and electron affinities for the phosphole derivatives are significantly affected by varying the phosphole ring substituents at the 2,5‐positions, which favor the hole and electron injection into OLEDs. The absorption and emission spectra exhibit red shifts to some extent [the absorption spectra: 339.63 (1) < 358.65 (2a) < 373.77 (3a) < 443.89 nm (4a) and 403.03 (3b) < 449.11 (2b) < 460.19 nm (4b); the emission spectra: 418.42 (1) < 513.62 (2a) < 556.51 (3a) < 642.59 nm (4a) and 568.31 (2b) < 631.11 (3b) < 647.35 nm (4b)] and the Stokes shifts are unexpectedly large ranging from 78 to 228 nm resulting from a more planar conformation of the excited state for the phosphole derivatives.

Color-tuning mechanism in firefly luminescence: theoretical studies on fluorescence of oxyluciferin in aqueous solution using time dependent density functional theory.

The first singlet excited state geometries of various isomers and tautomers of firefly oxyluciferin (OxyLH2), as well as their fluorescence spectra in aqueous solution, were studied using time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). With changing pH in aqueous solution, three fluorescence peaks, blue (450 nm), yellow-green(560 nm), and red (620 nm) correspond to neutral keto and enolic forms, the monoanionic enolic form,and the monocationic keto form respectively. A counterion, Na+, was predicted to cause a blue shift in the fluorescence of anionic OxyLH2. The contributions of a charge transfer (CT) state upon electronic excitation of the planar and twisted structures were predicted. CT was large for the twisted structures but small for the planar ones. The differences between pK and pK* of various oxyluciferin species were predicted using a Forster cycle. A new possible light emitter, namely, the monocation keto form (keto+1), was considered.

Theoretical investigation of one- and two-photon absorption properties of platinum acetylide chromophores.

In this paper, we have theoretically investigated bis((4-phenylethynyl)phenyl) ethynyl)bis(trimethylphosphine)platinum(II) (PE2) and its analogs three platinum acetylide complexes (1-3) that feature highly pi-conjugated ligands (alkynyl-dimethylfluorene substituted with electron-donating or -withdrawing moieties). The geometrical and electronic structures are calculated at the ECP60MWB//6-31G*(H, C, P, N, S) basis set level by the density functional theory (DFT) method; one-photon absorption properties have been calculated by using time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) and Zerners intermediate neglect of differential overlap (ZINDO) methods, and two-photon absorption (TPA) properties are obtained with the ZINDO/sum-over-states method. The values of beta(sp) and beta(d) for Pt are adjusted to -1 eV and -28.5 eV, respectively, to make one-photon absorption spectra calculated by ZINDO closest to the experimental data and TDDFT results. The calculated results indicate that all molecules in this work (involving cis isomers of molecules 1-3) take on two TPA peaks in the 600-800 nm region. The peak at 700-750 nm should not be simply attributed to the appearance of noncentrosymmetric cis isomers in solution, although trans and cis isomers adhere to a different selection rule. Every TPA peak results from its transition character. Molecules 1-3 show greater two-photon absorption strength compared with PE2 and retain good transparency.

Theoretical investigation on the origin of yellow-green firefly bioluminescence by time-dependent density functional theory.

The question whether the emitter of yellow-green firefly bioluminescence is the enol or keto-constrained form of oxyluciferin (OxyLH(2)) still has no definitive answer from experiment or theory. In this study, Arg220, His247, adenosine monophosphate (AMP), Water324, Phe249, Gly343, and Ser349, which make the dominant contributions to color tuning of the fluorescence, are selected to simulate the luciferase (Luc) environment and thus elucidate the origin of firefly bioluminescence. Their respective and compositive effects on OxyLH(2) are considered and the electronic absorption and emission spectra are investigated with B3LYP, B3PW91, and PBE1KCIS methods. Comparing the respective effects in the gas and aqueous phases revealed that the emission transition is prohibited in the gas phase but allowed in the aqueous phase. For the compositive effects, the optimized geometry shows that OxyLH(2) exists in the keto(-1) form when Arg220, His247, AMP, Water324, Phe249, Gly343, and Ser349 are all included in the model. Furthermore, the emission maximum wavelength of keto(-1)+Arg+His+AMP+H(2)O+Phe+Gly+Ser is close to the experimental value (560 nm). We conclude that the keto(-1) form of OxyLH(2) is a possible emitter which can produce yellow-green bioluminescence because of the compositive effects of Arg220, His247, AMP, Water324, Phe249, Gly343, and Ser349 in the luciferase environment. Moreover, AMP may be involved in enolization of the keto(-1) form of OxyLH(2). Water324 is indispensable with respect to the environmental factors around luciferin (LH(2)).

An efficient strategy for designing n-type organic semiconductor materials—introducing a six-membered imide ring into aromatic diimides

The aromatic diimides are among the most promising and versatile candidates for organic optoelectronic materials due to their commercial availability, low cost, excellent optical and electric performance, such as naphthalene, anthracene and perylene diimides. But, so far, the problem is not clarified—is a five- or six-membered imide ring more helpful for n-type organic semiconductor materials? The work investigated in detail and compared various properties for molecules with a five-/six-membered imide ring from the following aspects: (1) molecular stability, reaction activity, geometries, frontier molecular orbitals as well as oxidation and reduction abilities at the single-molecule level; (2) the variation of transfer integrals at the various molecular stacking motifs; (3) the estimate of carrier mobility and its anisotropy for the actual molecule crystals. The results indicate that molecules with a six-membered imide ring should be more suitable for n-type organic semiconductor materials.

Theoretical studies on the electronic and optical properties of two new alternating fluorene/carbazole copolymers.

Poly(fluorene)‐type materials are widely used in polymer‐based emitting devices. During operation there appears, however, an additional emission peak at around 2.3 eV, leading to both a color instability and reduced efficiency. The incorporation of the carbazole units has been proven to efficiently suppress the keto defect emission. In this contribution, we apply quantum‐chemical techniques to investigate two series of alternating fluorene/carbazole oligomers and copolymers poly[2,7‐(N‐(2‐methyl)‐carbazole)‐co‐alt‐2,7‐m(9,9‐dimethylfluorene)], namely, PFmCz (m = 1,2) and gain a detailed understanding of the influence of carbazole units on the electronic and optical properties of fluorene derivatives. The electronic properties of the neutral molecules, HOMO‐LUMO gaps (ΔH‐L), in addition to the positive and negative ions, are studied using B3LYP functional. The lowest excitation energies (Egs) and the maximal absorption wavelength λabs of PFmCz (m = 1,2) are studied, employing the time‐dependent density functional theory (TD‐DFT). The properties of the two copolymers, such as ΔH‐L, Eg, IPs, and EAs were obtained by extrapolating those of the oligomers to the inverse chain length equal to zero (1/n = 0). The outcomes showed that the carbazole unit is a good electron‐donating moiety for electronic materials, and the incorporation of carbazole into the polyfluorene (PF) backbone resulted in a broadened energy gap and a blue shift of both the absorption and photoluminescence emission peaks. Most importantly, the HOMO energies of PF1Cz and PF2Cz are both a higher average (0.4 eV) than polyfluorene (PF), which directly results in the decreasing of IPs of about 0.2 eV more than PF, indicating that the carbazole units have significantly improved the hole injection properties of the copolymers. In addition, the energy gap tends to broaden and the absorption and emission peaks are gradually blue‐shifted to shorter wavelengths with an increase in the carbazole content in the copolymers. This is due to the interruption of the longer conjugation length of the backbone in the (F1Cz)n series.

Synthesized Blue Fluorescent Protein Analogue with Tunable Colors from Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer through an N–H···N Hydrogen Bond

A synthesized blue fluorescent protein (BFP) chromophore analogue 2-BFP ((4Z)-4-[(1H-imidazol-2-yl)methylene]-1-methyl-2-phenyl-1H-imidazol-5(4H)-one) displays dual fluorescent emission that arises from the same Z-isomer. The larger Stokes shift emission is a result of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) mediated by an N-H···N type of hydrogen bond. Compared to other green fluorescent protein (GFP) analogues with ESIPT such as o-HBDI, 2-BFP possesses greatly enhanced quantum yields and much slower proton-transfer rates. In addition, fluorescence up-conversion experiments revealed two rising components of lifetime for the tautomer formation of 2-BFP. The results imply that the relaxation of the N* state in 2-BFP triggers the proton transfer of the molecule. The weaker photoacidity of N-H is proposed to be crucial for these photophysical and photochemical properties. Finally, the ESIPT process in 2-BFP is inhibited in protic solvents (MeOH) or by the formation of metal-chelate complexes, providing insights for further developments and applications of ESIPT molecules.

Computational Design of Two-Photon Fluorescent Probes for a Zinc Ion Based on a Salen Ligand

A two-photon fluorescent probe has become a critical tool in biology and medicine owing to its capability of imaging intact tissue for a long period of time, such as in two-photon fluorescence microscopy (TPM). In this context, a series of Salen-based zinc-ion bioimaging reagents that were designed based on an intramolecular charge-transfer mechanism were studied through the quantum-chemical method. The increase of one-photon absorption and fluorescence emission wavelength and the reduction of the oscillator strength upon coordination with a zinc ion reveal that they are fluorescent bioimaging reagents used for ratiometric detection. When the Salen ligand is incorporated with Zn(2+), the value of the two-photon absorption (TPA) cross-section (δmax) will decrease, and most of the ligands and complexes exhibit a TPA peak in the near-infrared spectral region. That is, a substituent at the end of the ligand can influence the luminescence property, besides increasing solubility. In addition, the effect of an end-substituted position on the TPA property was considered, such as ortho and meta substitution. The detailed investigations will provide a theoretical basis to synthesize zinc-ion-responsive two-photon fluorescent bioimaging reagents as powerful tools for TPM and biological detection in vivo.