Facile Functionalization of Ambipolar, Nitrogen-Doped PAHs toward Highly Efficient TADF OLED Emitters
J. Wagner, D. Kumar, M. A. Kochman, T. Gryber, M. Grzelak, A. Kubas, P. Data M. Lindner
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2023
Abstract
Despite promising optoelectronic features of Ndoped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), their use as functional materials remains underdeveloped due to their limited post-functionalization. Facing this challenge, a novel design of Ndoped PAHs with D−A−D electronic structure for thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters was performed. Implementing a set of auxiliary donors at the meta position of the protruding phenyl ring of quinoxaline triggers an increase in the charge-transfer property simultaneously decreasing the delayed fluorescence lifetime. This, in turn, contributes to a narrow (0.04−0.28 eV) singlet−triplet exchange energy split (ΔEST) and promotes a reverse intersystem crossing transition that is pivotal for an efficient TADF process. Boosting the electron-donating ability of our N-PAH scaffold leads to excellent photoluminescence quantum yield that was found in a solid-state matrix up to 96% (for phenoxazine-substituted derivatives, under air) with yellow or orange-red emission, depending on the specific compound. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) utilizing six, (D−A)−D, N-PAH emitters demonstrate a significant throughput with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 21.9% which is accompanied by remarkable luminance values which were found for all investigated devices in the range of 20,000−30,100 cd/m2 which is the highest reported to date for N-doped PAHs investigated in the OLED domain.