Katsuyuki Shizu

Highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes from delayed fluorescence

The inherent flexibility afforded by molecular design has accelerated the development of a wide variety of organic semiconductors over the past two decades. In particular, great advances have been made in the development of materials for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), from early devices based on fluorescent molecules to those using phosphorescent molecules. In OLEDs, electrically injected charge carriers recombine to form singlet and triplet excitons in a 1:3 ratio; the use of phosphorescent metal–organic complexes exploits the normally non-radiative triplet excitons and so enhances the overall electroluminescence efficiency. Here we report a class of metal-free organic electroluminescent molecules in which the energy gap between the singlet and triplet excited states is minimized by design, thereby promoting highly efficient spin up-conversion from non-radiative triplet states to radiative singlet states while maintaining high radiative decay rates, of more than 106 decays per second. In other words, these molecules harness both singlet and triplet excitons for light emission through fluorescence decay channels, leading to an intrinsic fluorescence efficiency in excess of 90 per cent and a very high external electroluminescence efficiency, of more than 19 per cent, which is comparable to that achieved in high-efficiency phosphorescence-based OLEDs.

Design of efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence materials for pure blue organic light emitting diodes

Efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) has been characterized for a carbazole/sulfone derivative in both solutions and doped films. A pure blue organic light emitting diode (OLED) based on this compound demonstrates a very high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of nearly 10% at low current density. Because TADF only occurs in a bipolar system where donor and acceptor centered (3)ππ* states are close to or higher than the triplet intramolecular charge transfer ((3)CT) state, control of the π-conjugation length of both donor and acceptor is considered to be as important as breaking the π-conjugation between them in blue TADF material design.

Highly efficient blue electroluminescence based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence

Organic compounds that exhibit highly efficient, stable blue emission are required to realize inexpensive organic light-emitting diodes for future displays and lighting applications. Here, we define the design rules for increasing the electroluminescence efficiency of blue-emitting organic molecules that exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence. We show that a large delocalization of the highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital in these charge-transfer compounds enhances the rate of radiative decay considerably by inducing a large oscillator strength even when there is a small overlap between the two wavefunctions. A compound based on our design principles exhibited a high rate of fluorescence decay and efficient up-conversion of triplet excitons into singlet excited states, leading to both photoluminescence and internal electroluminescence quantum yields of nearly 100%.

Efficient green thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) from a phenoxazine–triphenyltriazine (PXZ–TRZ) derivative

Efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) was developed in a material based on a phenoxazine (PXZ) electron donor unit and a 2,4,6-triphenyl-1,3,5-triazine (TRZ) electron acceptor unit. An organic light-emitting diode containing this novel TADF emitter layer was fabricated and exhibited a maximum external quantum efficiency of 12.5% with green emission.

Purely organic electroluminescent material realizing 100% conversion from electricity to light

Efficient organic light-emitting diodes have been developed using emitters containing rare metals, such as platinum and iridium complexes. However, there is an urgent need to develop emitters composed of more abundant materials. Here we show a thermally activated delayed fluorescence material for organic light-emitting diodes, which realizes both approximately 100% photoluminescence quantum yield and approximately 100% up-conversion of the triplet to singlet excited state. The material contains electron-donating diphenylaminocarbazole and electron-accepting triphenyltriazine moieties. The typical trade-off between effective emission and triplet-to-singlet up-conversion is overcome by fine-tuning the highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital distributions. The nearly zero singlet–triplet energy gap, smaller than the thermal energy at room temperature, results in an organic light-emitting diode with external quantum efficiency of 29.6%. An external quantum efficiency of 41.5% is obtained when using an out-coupling sheet. The external quantum efficiency is 30.7% even at a high luminance of 3,000 cd m−2.

Triarylboron‐Based Fluorescent Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes with External Quantum Efficiencies Exceeding 20 %

Triarylboron compounds have attracted much attention, and found wide use as functional materials because of their electron-accepting properties arising from the vacant p orbitals on the boron atoms. In this study, we design and synthesize new donor-acceptor triarylboron emitters that show thermally activated delayed fluorescence. These emitters display sky-blue to green emission and high photoluminescence quantum yields of 87-100 % in host matrices. Organic light-emitting diodes using these emitting molecules as dopants exhibit high external quantum efficiencies of 14.0-22.8 %, which originate from efficient up-conversion from triplet to singlet states and subsequent efficient radiative decay from singlet to ground states.

Solvent effect on thermally activated delayed fluorescence by 1,2,3,5-tetrakis(carbazol-9-yl)-4,6-dicyanobenzene

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) is fluorescence arising from a reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) from the lowest triplet (T1) to the singlet excited state (S1), where these states are separated by a small energy gap (ΔEst), followed by a radiative transition to the ground state (S0). Rate constants relating TADF processes in 1,2,3,5-tetrakis(carbazol-9-yl)-4,6-dicyanobenzene (4CzIPN) were determined at four different solvent polarities (toluene, dichloromethane, ethanol, and acetonitrile). We revealed that the rate constant of RISC, kRISC, which is the most important factor for TADF, was significantly enhanced by a reduced ΔEst in more polar solvents. The smaller ΔEst was mainly attributable to a stabilization of the S1 state. This stabilization also induced a Stokes shift in fluorescence through a relatively large change of the dipole moment between S1 and S0 states (17 D). Despite of this factor, we observed a negative correlation between ΔEst and efficiency of the delayed fluorescence (φd). This was ascribed to a lower intersystem crossing rate, kISC, and increased nonradiative decay from S1, k(s)nrs, in polar solvents.

Controlled emission colors and singlet–triplet energy gaps of dihydrophenazine-based thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters

We have developed thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters containing 5,10-dihydrophenazine as an electron donor and various electron-acceptor units. The TADF emitters exhibit wide ranges of emission colors from green to orange, singlet–triplet energy gaps ΔEST of ∼0–0.19 eV, and delayed fluorescence lifetimes τd of 0.1–50 μs. An organic light-emitting diode containing one of the TADF emitters exhibits a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 12%, which is higher than those obtained with conventional fluorescent emitters. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements of the compounds in a host matrix reveal that TADF makes a large contribution to the EQE of the devices. Our findings provide guidelines for modulating ΔEST and τd of TADF emitters.

Highly efficient electroluminescence from a solution-processable thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter

We developed a thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitter, 2,4,6-tris(4-(9,9-dimethylacridan-10-yl)phenyl)-1,3,5-triazine (3ACR-TRZ), suitable for use in solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). When doped into 4,4′-bis(carbazol-9-yl)biphenyl (CBP) host at 16 wt. %, 3ACR-TRZ showed a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 98%. Transient photoluminescence decay measurements of the 16 wt. % 3ACR-TRZ:CBP film confirmed that 3ACR-TRZ exhibits efficient TADF with a triplet-to-light conversion efficiency of 96%. This high conversion efficiency makes 3ACR-TRZ attractive as an emitting dopant in OLEDs. Using 3ACR-TRZ as an emitter, we fabricated a solution-processed OLED exhibiting a maximum external quantum efficiency of 18.6%.

Donor–acceptor-structured 1,4-diazatriphenylene derivatives exhibiting thermally activated delayed fluorescence: design and synthesis, photophysical properties and OLED characteristics

Abstract A new series of luminescent 1,4-diazatriphenylene (ATP) derivatives with various peripheral donor units, including phenoxazine, 9,9-dimethylacridane and 3-(diphenylamino)carbazole, is synthesized and characterized as thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters. The influence of the donor substituents on the electronic and photophysical properties of the materials is investigated by theoretical calculations and experimental spectroscopic measurements. These ATP-based molecules with donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) structures can reduce the singlet–triplet energy gap (0.04–0.26 eV) upon chemical modification of the ATP core, and thus exhibit obvious TADF characteristics in solution and doped thin films. As a demonstration of the potential of these materials, organic light-emitting diodes containing the D–A–D-structured ATP derivatives as emitters are fabricated and tested. External electroluminescence quantum efficiencies above 12% and 8% for green- and sky-blue-emitting devices, respectively, are achieved.