Evelyn Fuchs

High‐Efficiency Blue and White Organic Light‐Emitting Devices Incorporating a Blue Iridium Carbene Complex

High-effi ciency white organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) have great potential for energy saving solid-state lighting and eco-friendly fl at-display panels. [ 1 ] In addition, white OLEDs are expected to open new designs in lighting technology, such as transparent lighting panels or luminescent wallpapers because of being able to form paper-like thin fi lms. Phosphorescent OLED technology is an imperative methodology to realize higheffi ciency white OLEDs because phosphors, such as fac -tris(2phenylpyridine)iridium( III ) [Ir(ppy) 3 ] and iridium( III )bis(4,6(difl uorophenyl)pyridinatoN , C 2 ′ )picolinate (FIrpic) enable an internal effi ciency as high as 100% converting both singlet and triplet excitons into photons. [ 2 ] There are two effective approaches to obtain white OLEDs by using phosphors. One is to combine a blue fl uorophore and phosphors for the other colors, a so-called hybrid white OLED. [ 3 ] A key requirement is the use of a blue fl uorophore with higher triplet energy ( E T1 ) than that of the other phosphors. The blue fl uorophore also needs to have a high photoluminescent quantum yield ( η PL ). Schwartz and coworkers reported hybrid white OLEDs with a power effi ciency at 1000 cd m − 2 ( η p,1000 ) of 22 lm W − 1 (external quantum effi ciency (EQE) of 10.4%) by using N , N ′ -di-1-naphthalenylN , N ′ -diphenyl-[1,1 ′ :4 ′ ,1 ′ ′ :4 ′ ′ ,1 ′ ′ ′ -quaterphenyl]-4,4 ′ ′ ′ -diamine (4P-NPD) as a blue fl uorophore, and Ir(ppy) 3 and iridium( III ) bis(2-methyldibenzo-[ f , h ]quinoxaline)(acetylacetonate) [Ir(MDQ) 2 ( acac)] as green and red phosphors, respectively. [ 4 ]

Design Rules for Charge-Transport Efficient Host Materials for Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

The use of blue phosphorescent emitters in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) imposes demanding requirements on a host material. Among these are large triplet energies, the alignment of levels with respect to the emitter, the ability to form and sustain amorphous order, material processability, and an adequate charge carrier mobility. A possible design strategy is to choose a π-conjugated core with a high triplet level and to fulfill the other requirements by using suitable substituents. Bulky substituents, however, induce large spatial separations between conjugated cores, can substantially reduce intermolecular electronic couplings, and decrease the charge mobility of the host. In this work we analyze charge transport in amorphous 2,8-bis(triphenylsilyl)dibenzofuran, an electron-transporting material synthesized to serve as a host in deep-blue OLEDs. We show that mesomeric effects delocalize the frontier orbitals over the substituents recovering strong electronic couplings and lowering reorganization energies, especially for electrons, while keeping energetic disorder small. Admittance spectroscopy measurements reveal that the material has indeed a high electron mobility and a small Poole-Frenkel slope, supporting our conclusions. By linking electronic structure, molecular packing, and mobility, we provide a pathway to the rational design of hosts with high charge mobilities.

11.2: Efficient Deep Blue Triplet Emitters for OLEDs

Cyclometallated iridium carbene complexes are introduced as efficient blue triplet emitters. Quantum mechanical calculations have been used to design and to optimize this class of materials predominantely with respect to color coordinates and luminescence quantum yield. To complete the set of materials required for deep blue OLED devices we engineered suitable host and blocker materials for the use in combination with large triplet energy carbene emitters. These tailor-made materials were applied to develop deep blue electroluminescent devices with excellent efficiency.

Controlling the radiative rate of electrophosphorescent organometallic complexes by engineering the singlet-triplet splitting

We address the role of singlet-triplet splitting in controlling the radiative rate for deep-blue electrophosphorescent metal complexes. An enhanced radiative rate correlates with a small splitting, highlighting the road map to efficient electrophosphorescence.

Deep Blue Phosphorescent OLEDs with Improved Device Stability

Cyclometallated iridium N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-complexes have become known as efficient deep blue triplet emitters in OLEDs. Herein we discuss new materials and device setups for carbene-based deep blue OLEDs with improved stability and lifetime.