Hua-Bo Han

Highly efficient yellow electroluminescence of iridium complexes with good electron mobility

Herein, two iridium(III) complexes with yellow emission using 1-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)isoquinoline (tfmphiq) and 4-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)quinazoline (tfmphqz) as the main ligands and tetraphenylimidodiphosphinate (tpip) as the ancillary ligand were applied in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The quinazoline moiety greatly influenced the nature of the complexes, and both the quantum yield and the electron mobility of Ir(tfmphqz)2(tpip) were much higher than that of Ir(tfmphiq)2(tpip) (Ir(tfmphiq)2(tpip) (λem: 581 nm and Φ: 0.61) and Ir(tfmphqz)2(tpip) (λem: 566 nm and Φ: 0.97)). Moreover, the device based on Ir(tfmphqz)2(tpip) displayed far better performance than that based on the Ir(tfmphiq)2(tpip) emitter. The device with a structure of ITO/MoO3 (3 nm)/TAPC (50 nm)/Ir(tfmphqz)2(tpip) (6 wt%): 26DCzPPy (10 nm)/TmPyPB (50 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) displayed a maximum luminance of 96 377 cd m−2 and a maximum current efficiency and a maximum power efficiency of 106.66 cd A−1 and 64.72 lm W−1, respectively, with low efficiency roll-off. The current efficiency still remains as high as 89.91 cd A−1 at the brightness of 1000 cd m−2 and 79.73 cd A−1 at the brightness of 5000 cd m−2. These results suggest that the Ir(III) complexes with quinazoline units are potential yellow phosphorescent materials for OLEDs.

Versatile functionalization of trifluoromethyl based deep blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence materials for organic light emitting diodes

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials have been thoroughly developed and have proven to be the most promising means to generate an efficient deep blue emission. In this work, we prepared a series of deep blue TADF emitters based on trifluoromethyl featuring phenyl and N-heterocyclic rings as electron-withdrawing units and carbazole as electron-donating moieties. Efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) utilizing these emitters have a deep blue emission and a high external quantum efficiency of up to 20.4%. These blue emitters are among the bluest in the TADF based OLED category. They can also be implemented in OLED as hosts for green phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes, exhibiting high brightness and a decent external quantum yield.

Peripheral Amplification of Multi‐Resonance Induced Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence for Highly Efficient OLEDs

Multi-resonance induced by boron and nitrogen atoms in opposite resonance positions endows a thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) emitter with a strikingly small full width at half maximum of only 26 nm and excellent photoluminescence quantum yield of up to 97.48 %. The introduction of a carbazole unit in the para position of the B-substituted phenyl-ring can significantly boost up the resonance effect without compromising the color fidelity, subsequently enhancing the performances of the corresponding pure blue TADF-OLED, with an outstanding external quantum efficiency (EQE) up to 32.1 % and low efficiency roll-off, making it one of the best TADF-OLEDs in the blue region to date. Furthermore, utilizing this material as host for a yellow phosphorescent emitter, the device also shows a significantly reduced turn-on voltage of 3.2 V and an EQEmax of 22.2 %.

Highly efficient orange-red electroluminescence of iridium complexes with good electron mobility

Two iridium complexes with 1-(2,6-bis(trifluoromethyl)pyridin-4-yl)isoquinoline (tfmpiq) and 4-(2,6-bis(trifluoromethyl)pyridin-4-yl)quinazoline (tfmpqz) main ligands and a tetraphenylimidodiphosphinate (tpip) ancillary ligand were applied in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The introduction of quinazoline greatly influences the nature of the complex. The quantum yield and the electron mobility of Ir(tfmpqz)2(tpip) are much higher than those of Ir(tfmpiq)2(tpip) (Ir(tfmpiq)2(tpip): Φ: 0.47, μe: 8.93–9.47 × 10−6 cm2 V−1 s−1 under an electric field from 1040 (V cm−1)1/2 to 1300 (V cm−1)1/2; Ir(tfmpqz)2(tpip): Φ: 0.98, μe: 6.44–7.20 × 10−6 cm2 V−1 s−1 under an electric field from 1040 (V cm−1)1/2 to 1300 (V cm−1)1/2). In addition, the Ir(tfmpqz)2(tpip)-based device also displayed better performance than that using Ir(tfmpiq)2(tpip). Furthermore, with a europium complex, Eu(DBM)3phen (DBM = dibenzoylmethide; phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) as a sensitizer, the device based on Ir(tfmpqz)2(tpip) with a double emissive layer structure of ITO/MoO3 (3 nm)/TAPC (50 nm)/Ir(tfmpqz)2(tpip) (5 wt%):TcTa (10 nm)/Eu(DBM)3phen (0.2 wt%):Ir(tfmpqz)2(tpip) (5 wt%):26DCzPPy (10 nm)/TmPyPB (50 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) displayed the best performance with a maximum luminance of 129 466 cd m−2, and a maximum current efficiency and a maximum power efficiency of 62.96 cd A−1 and 53.43 lm W−1, respectively, with low efficiency roll-off. The current efficiency still remains as high as 58.84 cd A−1 at a brightness of 1000 cd m−2 and 53.27 cd A−1 at a brightness of 5000 cd m−2. These results suggest that Ir(III) complexes with quinazoline units are potential orange-red phosphorescent materials for OLEDs.

Efficient bluish green electroluminescence of iridium complexes with good electron mobility

Two novel iridium(III) complexes (Ir1 and Ir2), synthesized using 2′-(trifluoromethyl)-2,5′-bipyrimidine and 5-fluoro-2′-(trifluoromethyl)-2,5′-bipyrimidine as the main ligands, and tetraphenylimidodiphosphinate (tpip) as an ancillary ligand, were investigated. The introduction of a nitrogen heterocycle and CF3 substituent improves the electron mobility of the Ir(III) complexes, which is beneficial for device performance. Both of the complexes emit bluish green photoluminescence with very high quantum efficiency yields (Ir1: λmax: 485/516 nm, ηPL: 89%; Ir2: λmax: 482/513 nm, ηPL: 95%) and good electron mobility. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) constructed with an ITO (indium tin oxide)/MoO3 (molybdenum oxide, 3 nm)/TAPC (di-[4-(N,N-ditolyl-amino)-phenyl]cyclohexane, 50 nm)/mCP (1,3-bis(9H-carbazol-9-yl)benzene, 5 nm)/Ir complex (6 wt%):PPO21 (3-(diphenylphosphoryl)-9-(4-(diphenyl-phosphoryl)phenyl)-9H-carbazole, 10 nm)/TmPyPB (1,3,5-tri(m-pyrid-3-yl-phenyl)benzene, 50 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) structure showed good device performances. Device G1 based on Ir1 showed a ηc,max value of 62.99 cd A−1 with an EQEmax value of 23.5%. Owing to the slightly higher PL efficiency and lower LUMO levels of Ir2, which are beneficial for electron injection, the device based on Ir2 displayed a slightly better performance with a ηc,max value of 71.18 cd A−1 and an EQEmax value of 27.7%. Even at a practical brightness of 1000 cd m2, values of 57.39 cd A−1 and 22.3% could still be reached.

Efficient electroluminescence of bluish green iridium complexes with 2-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)pyrimidine and 2-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-5-fluoropyrimidine as the main ligands

We thoroughly investigated four iridium(III) complexes (Ir(tfmphpm)2(acac), Ir(f-tfmphpm)2(acac), Ir(tfmphpm)2(tpip), and Ir(f-tfmphpm)2(tpip)) using 2-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)pyrimidine (tfmphpm) and 2-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-5-fluoropyrimidine (f-tfmphpm) as the main ligands and 2,4-pentanedionate (acac) and tetraphenylimidodiphosphinate (tpip) as the ancillary ligands. All complexes showed bluish green emissions peaking at 473–480 nm with very high photoluminescence quantum efficiencies in the range of 85–95%. The organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) using these emitters exhibited good performances. Especially, the device using Ir(tfmphpm)2(tpip) with the structure of ITO (indium-tin-oxide)/MoO3 (molybdenum oxide, 3 nm)/TAPC (di-[4-(N,N-ditolyl-amino)phenyl]cyclohexane, 50 nm)/mCP (1,3-bis(9H-carbazol-9-yl) benzene, 5 nm)/Ir(tfmphpm)2(tpip) (6 wt%) : PPO21 (3-(diphenylphosphoryl)-9-(4-(diphenylphosphoryl)phenyl)-9H-carbazole, 10 nm)/TmPyPB (1,3,5-tri(m-pyrid-3-yl-phenyl) benzene, 50 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) displayed the best performances with a maximum luminance of 28 194 cd m−2, a maximum current efficiency of 74.70 cd A−1, and a maximum external quantum efficiency up to 35.0%, and the efficiency roll-off ratio was small. The current efficiency of the device remained as high as 66.46 cd A−1 at the brightness of 1000 cd m−2, suggesting that they are potential materials for applications in OLEDs.

Efficient green photoluminescence and electroluminescence of iridium complexes with high electron mobility

Aiming to balance the injection and transport of electrons and holes, nitrogen heterocycle and 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives were introduced in iridium(iii) complexes to obtain organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with high performances. Thus, two novel Ir(iii) complexes (Ir(tfmphpm)2(pop) and Ir(tfmppm)2(pop)) with green emissions using 2-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)pyrimidine (tfmphpm) and 2-(2,6-bis(trifluoromethyl)pyridin-4-yl)pyrimidine (tfmppm) as cyclometalating ligands, and 2-(5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)phenol (pop) as an ancillary ligand were synthesized. Both emitters show high photoluminescence efficiencies up to 94% and good electron mobility. The devices using two emitters with the structure of ITO (indium-tin-oxide)/MoO3 (molybdenum oxide, 5 nm)/TAPC (di-[4-(N,N-ditolyl-amino)-phenyl]cyclohexane, 30 nm)/mCP (1,3-bis(9H-carbazol-9-yl)benzene, 5 nm)/Ir(iii) complexes (6 wt%) : PPO21 (3-(diphenylphosphoryl)-9-(4-(diphenylphosphoryl)phenyl)-9H-carbazole, 10 nm)/TmPyPB (1,3,5-tri(m-pyrid-3-yl-phenyl) benzene, 40 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) display good electroluminescence performances with a maximum luminance of 48 981 cd m-2, a maximum current efficiency of 92.79 cd A-1 and a maximum external quantum efficiency up to 31.8%, respectively, and the efficiency roll-off ratio is low, suggesting that they have potential application in OLEDs.