Basile F. E. Curchod

Acid-induced degradation of phosphorescent dopants for OLEDs and its application to the synthesis of tris-heteroleptic iridium(III) bis-cyclometalated complexes.

Investigations of blue phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on [Ir(2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)pyridine)(2)(picolinate)] (FIrPic) have pointed to the cleavage of the picolinate as a possible reason for device instability. We reproduced the loss of picolinate and acetylacetonate ancillary ligands in solution by the addition of Brønsted or Lewis acids. When hydrochloric acid is added to a solution of a [Ir(C^N)(2)(X^O)] complex (C^N = 2-phenylpyridine (ppy) or 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)pyridine (diFppy) and X^O = picolinate (pic) or acetylacetonate (acac)), the cleavage of the ancillary ligand results in the direct formation of the chloro-bridged iridium(III) dimer [{Ir(C^N)(2)(μ-Cl)}(2)]. When triflic acid or boron trifluoride are used, a source of chloride (here tetrabutylammonium chloride) is added to obtain the same chloro-bridged iridium(III) dimer. Then, we advantageously used this degradation reaction for the efficient synthesis of tris-heteroleptic cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes [Ir(C^N(1))(C^N(2))(L)], a family of cyclometalated complexes otherwise challenging to prepare. We used an iridium(I) complex, [{Ir(COD)(μ-Cl)}(2)], and a stoichiometric amount of two different C^N ligands (C^N(1) = ppy; C^N(2) = diFppy) as starting materials for the swift preparation of the chloro-bridged iridium(III) dimers. After reacting the mixture with acetylacetonate and subsequent purification, the tris-heteroleptic complex [Ir(ppy)(diFppy)(acac)] could be isolated with good yield from the crude containing as well the bis-heteroleptic complexes [Ir(ppy)(2)(acac)] and [Ir(diFppy)(2)(acac)]. Reaction of the tris-heteroleptic acac complex with hydrochloric acid gives pure heteroleptic chloro-bridged iridium dimer [{Ir(ppy)(diFppy)(μ-Cl)}(2)], which can be used as starting material for the preparation of a new tris-heteroleptic iridium(III) complex based on these two C^N ligands. Finally, we use DFT/LR-TDDFT to rationalize the impact of the two different C^N ligands on the observed photophysical and electrochemical properties.

Trajectory-Based Nonadiabatic Dynamics with Time- Dependent Density Functional Theory

Understanding the fate of an electronically excited molecule constitutes an important task for theoretical chemistry, and practical implications range from the interpretation of atto- and femtosecond spectroscopy to the development of light-driven molecular machines, the control of photochemical reactions, and the possibility of capturing sunlight energy. However, many challenging conceptual and technical problems are involved in the description of these phenomena such as 1) the failure of the well-known Born-Oppenheimer approximation; 2) the need for accurate electronic properties such as potential energy surfaces, excited nuclear forces, or nonadiabatic coupling terms; and 3) the necessity of describing the dynamics of the photoexcited nuclear wavepacket. This review provides an overview of the current methods to address points 1) and 3) and shows how time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and its linear-response extension can be used for point 2). First, the derivation of Ehrenfest dynamics and nonadiabatic Bohmian dynamics is discussed and linked to Tullys trajectory surface hopping. Second, the coupling of these trajectory-based nonadiabatic schemes with TDDFT is described in detail with special emphasis on the derivation of the required electronic structure properties.

FIrpic: archetypal blue phosphorescent emitter for electroluminescence

FIrpic is the most investigated bis-cyclometallated iridium complex in particular in the context of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) because of its attractive sky-blue emission, high emission efficiency, and suitable energy levels. In this Perspective we review the synthesis, structural characterisations, and key properties of this emitter. We also survey the theoretical studies and summarise a series of selected monochromatic electroluminescent devices using FIrpic as the emitting dopant. Finally we highlight important shortcomings of FIrpic as an emitter for OLEDs. Despite the large body of work dedicated to this material, it is manifest that the understanding of photophysical and electrochemical processes are only broadly understood mainly because of the different environment in which these properties are measured, i.e., isolated molecules in solvent vs. device.

Influence of Halogen Atoms on a Homologous Series of Bis-Cyclometalated Iridium(III) Complexes

A series of homologous bis-cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes Ir(2,4-di-X-phenyl-pyridine)(2)(picolinate) (X = H, F, Cl, Br) HIrPic, FIrPic, ClIrPic, and BrIrPic has been synthesized and characterized by NMR, X-ray crystallography, UV-vis absorption and emission spectroscopy, and electrochemical methods. The addition of halogen substituents results in the emission being localized on the main cyclometalated ligand. In addition, halogen substitution induces a blue shift of the emission maxima, especially in the case of the fluoro-based analogue but less pronounced for chlorine and bromine substituents. Supported by ground and excited state theoretical calculations, we rationalized this effect in a simple manner by taking into account the σp and σm Hammett constants on both the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels. Furthermore, in comparison with FIrPic and ClIrPic, the impact of the large bromine atom remarkably decreases the photoluminescence quantum yield of BrIrPic and switches the corresponding lifetime from mono to biexponential decay. We performed theoretical calculations based on linear-response time-dependent density functional theory (LR-TDDFT) including spin-orbit coupling (SOC), and unrestricted DFT (U-DFT) to obtain information about the absorption and emission processes and to gain insight into the reasons behind this remarkable change in photophysical properties along the homologous series of complexes. According to theoretical geometries for the lowest triplet state, the large halogen substituents contribute to sizable distortions of specific phenylpyridine ligands for ClIrPic and BrIrPic, which are likely to play a role in the emissive and nonradiative properties when coupled with the heavy-atom effect.

Nonadiabatic coupling vectors for excited states within time-dependent density functional theory in the Tamm-Dancoff approximation and beyond

Recently, we have proposed a scheme for the calculation of nonadiabatic couplings and nonadiabatic coupling vectors within linear response time-dependent density functional theory using a set of auxiliary many-electron wavefunctions [I. Tavernelli, E. Tapavicza, and U. Rothlisberger, J. Chem. Phys. 130, 124107 (2009)]. As demonstrated in a later work [I. Tavernelli, B. F. E. Curchod, and U. Rothlisberger, J. Chem. Phys. 131, 196101 (2009)], this approach is rigorous in the case of the calculation of nonadiabatic couplings between the ground state and any excited state. In this work, we extend this formalism to the case of coupling between pairs of singly excited states with the same spin multiplicity. After proving the correctness of our formalism using the electronic oscillator approach by Mukamel and co-workers [S. Tretiak and S. Mukamel, Chem. Rev. (Washington, D.C.) 102, 3171 (2002)], we tested the method on a model system, namely, protonated formaldimine, for which we computed S(1)/S(2) nonadiabatic coupling vectors and compared them with results from high level (MR-CISD) electronic structure calculations.

Structure–property relationships based on Hammett constants in cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes: their application to the design of a fluorine-free FIrPic-like emitter

While phosphorescent cyclometalated iridium(iii) complexes have been widely studied, only correlations between oxidation potential EOX and Hammett constant σ, and between the redox gap (ΔEREDOX = EOX-ERED) and emission or absorption wavelength (λabs, λem) have been reported. We present now a quantitative model based on Hammett parameters that rationalizes the effect of the substituents on the properties of cyclometalated iridium(iii) complexes. This simple model allows predicting the apparent redox potentials as well as the electrochemical gap of homoleptic complexes based on phenylpyridine ligands with good accuracy. In particular, the model accounts for the unequal effect of the substituents on both the HOMO and the LUMO energy levels. Consequently, the model is used to anticipate the emission maxima of the corresponding complexes with improved reliability. We demonstrate in a series of phenylpyridine emitters that electron-donating groups can effectively replace electron-withdrawing substituents on the orthometallated phenyl to induce a blue shift of the emission. This result is in contrast with the common approach that uses fluorine to blue shift the emission maximum. Finally, as a proof of concept, we used electron-donating substituents to design a new fluorine-free complex, referred to as EB343, matching the various properties, namely oxidation and reduction potentials, electrochemical gap and emission profile, of the standard sky-blue emitter FIrPic.

Towards Compatibility between Ruthenium Sensitizers and Cobalt Electrolytes in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

This tuning minimizes energy losses in the device byoptimizingthedrivingforceforregeneration,whichallowsforconsiderableimprovementoftheopen-circuitvoltagerelativeto iodine electrolytes.Current ruthenium(II) sensitizers are not designed toperform with cobalt electrolytes. Among the few examplesreported in the literature,

On nonadiabatic coupling vectors in time-dependent density functional theory

In this note, we show that the development for the calculation of nonadiabatic coupling vectors in the framework of TDDFT introduced by the authors in the series of recent publications [E. Tapavicza et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.98, 023001 (2007); I. Tavernelli et al., J. Chem. Phys.130, 124107 (2009)] is rigorous and fully equivalent to the one proposed by Sugino and co-workers [C. P. Hu et al., J. Chem. Phys.127, 064103 (2007)]. Specific applications of our formulation are also discussed.

Trajectory-based solution of the nonadiabatic quantum dynamics equations: an on-the-fly approach for molecular dynamics simulations

The non-relativistic quantum dynamics of nuclei and electrons is solved within the framework of quantum hydrodynamics using the adiabatic representation of the electronic states. An on-the-fly trajectory-based nonadiabatic molecular dynamics algorithm is derived, which is also able to capture nuclear quantum effects that are missing in the traditional trajectory surface hopping approach based on the independent trajectory approximation. The use of correlated trajectories produces quantum dynamics, which is in principle exact and computationally very efficient. The method is first tested on a series of model potentials and then applied to study the molecular collision of H with H(2) using on-the-fly TDDFT potential energy surfaces and nonadiabatic coupling vectors.

Qualitatively Incorrect Features in the TDDFT Spectrum of Thiophene-Based Compounds

Ab initio molecular electronic structure computations of thiophene-based compounds constitute an active field of research prompted by the growing interest in low-cost materials for organic electronic devices. In particular, the modeling of electronically excited states and other time-dependent phenomena has moved toward the description of more realistic albeit challenging systems. We demonstrate that due to its underlying approximations, time-dependent density functional theory predicts results that are qualitatively incorrect for thiophene and thienoacenes, although not for oligothiophene chains. The failure includes spurious state inversion and excitation characters, wrong distribution of oscillator strengths and erroneous potential energy surfaces. We briefly analyze possible origins of this behavior and identify alternative methods that alleviate these problems.