Purely Organic Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials for Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes

The design of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials both as emitters and as hosts is an exploding area of research. The replacement of phosphorescent metal complexes with inexpensive organic compounds in electroluminescent (EL) devices that demonstrate comparable performance metrics is paradigm shifting, as these new materials offer the possibility of developing low‐cost lighting and displays. Here, a comprehensive review of TADF materials is presented, with a focus on linking their optoelectronic behavior with the performance of the organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) and related EL devices. TADF emitters are cross‐compared within specific color ranges, with a focus on blue, green–yellow, orange–red, and white OLEDs. Organic small‐molecule, dendrimer, polymer, and exciplex emitters are all discussed within this review, as is their use as host materials. Correlations are provided between the structure of the TADF materials and their optoelectronic properties. The success of TADF materials has ushered in the next generation of OLEDs.     

Adamantyl Substitution Strategy for Realizing Solution‐Processable Thermally Stable Deep‐Blue Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials

Highly efficient solution‐processable emitters, especially deep‐blue emitters, are greatly desired to develop low‐cost and low‐energy‐consumption organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). A recently developed class of potentially metal‐free emitters, thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials, are promising candidates, but solution‐processable TADF materials with efficient blue emissions are not well investigated. In this study, first the requirements for the design of efficient deep‐blue TADF materials are clarified, on the basis of which, adamantyl‐substituted TADF molecules are developed. The substitution not only endows high solubility and excellent thermal stability but also has a critical impact on the molecular orbitals, by pushing up the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy and triplet energy of the molecules. In the application to OLEDs, an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 22.1% with blue emission having Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15, 0.19) is realized. A much deeper blue emission with CIE (0.15, 0.13) is also achieved, with an EQE of 11.2%. These efficiencies are the best yet among solution‐processed TADF OLEDs of CIE y < 0.20 and y < 0.15, as far as known. This work demonstrates the validity of adamantyl substitution and paves a pathway for straightforward realization of solution‐processable efficient deep‐blue TADF emitters.     

An Ultraviolet Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence OLED with Total External Quantum Efficiency over 9%

Owing to the difficulty in acquiring compounds with combined high energy bandgaps and lower-lying intramolecular charge-transfer excited states, the development of ultraviolet (UV) thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials is quite challenging. Herein, through interlocking of the diphenylsulfone (PS) acceptor unit of a reported deep-blue TADF emitter (CZ-PS) by a dimethylmethylene bridge, CZ-MPS, a UV-emissive TADF compound bearing a shallower LUMO energy level and a more rigid structure than those of CZ-PS is achieved. This represents the first example of a UV-emissive TADF compound. Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) using CZ-MPS as the guest material can emit efficient UV light with emission maximum of 389 nm and maximum total external quantum efficiency (EQE_max) of 9.3%. Note that this EQE_max value is twice as high as the current record EQE_max (4.6%) for UV-OLEDs. This finding may shed light on the molecular design strategy for high-performance UV-OLED materials.     

High‐Efficiency Red Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes with External Quantum Efficiency Close to 30% Based on a Novel Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitter

Researchers have spared no effort to design new thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters for high‐efficiency organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, efficient long‐wavelength TADF emitters are rarely reported. Herein, a red TADF emitter, TPA–PZCN, is reported, which possesses a high photoluminescence quantum yield (Φ_PL) of 97% and a small singlet–triplet splitting (ΔE_ST) of 0.13 eV. Based on the superior properties of TPA–PZCN, red, deep‐red, and near‐infrared (NIR) OLEDs are fabricated by utilizing different device structure strategies. The red devices obtain a remarkable maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 27.4% and an electroluminescence (EL) peak at 628 nm with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.65, 0.35), which represents the best result with a peak wavelength longer than 600 nm among those of the reported red TADF devices. Furthermore, an exciplex‐forming cohost strategy is adopted. The devices achieve a record EQE of 28.1% and a deep‐red EL peak at 648 nm with the CIE coordinates of (0.66, 0.34). Last, nondoped devices exhibit 5.3% EQE and an NIR EL peak at 680 nm with the CIE coordinates of (0.69, 0.30).     

红色热激活延迟荧光材料的研究进展

通过反向系间窜越,热激活延迟荧光(TADF)材料可以同时利用三线态激子和单线态激子,使器件的理论内量子效率突破传统荧光材料的25%,达到理论上的100%,可与磷光材料相媲美,且材料价格便宜无需贵金属,因而受到人们广泛关注。近年来,对绿光及蓝光材料的研究进展较快,而红光材料由于分子结构的合理设计比较困难,研究进展相对较慢。从受体的类型出发,综述了近年来有关红色TADF材料的研究进展,并结合现有工作,对红色TADF材料的发展前景进行了展望。     

Highly Efficient Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence via J‐Aggregates with Strong Intermolecular Charge Transfer

The development of high‐efficiency and low‐cost organic emissive materials and devices is intrinsically limited by the energy‐gap law and spin statistics, especially in the near‐infrared (NIR) region. A novel design strategy is reported for realizing highly efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials via J‐aggregates with strong intermolecular charge transfer (CT). Two organic donor–acceptor molecules with strong and planar acceptor are designed and synthesized, which can readily form J‐aggregates with strong intermolecular CT in solid states and exhibit wide‐tuning emissions from yellow to NIR. Experimental and theoretical investigations expose that the formation of such J‐aggregates mixes Frenkel excitons and CT excitons, which not only contributes to a fast radiative decay rate and a slow nonradiative decay rate for achieving nearly unity photoluminescence efficiency in solid films, but significantly decreases the energy gap between the lowest singlet and triplet excited states (≈0.3 eV) to induce high‐efficiency TADF even in the NIR region. These organic light‐emitting diodes exhibit external quantum efficiencies of 15.8% for red emission and 14.1% for NIR emission, which represent the best result for NIR organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on TADF materials. These findings open a new avenue for the development of high‐efficiency organic emissive materials and devices based on molecular aggregates.     

Realizing 22.5% External Quantum Efficiency for Solution‐Processed Thermally Activated Delayed‐Fluorescence OLEDs with Red Emission at 622 nm via a Synergistic Strategy of Molecular Engineering and Host Selection

Developing high‐efficiency solution‐processable thermally activated delayed‐fluorescence (TADF) emitters, especially in longer wavelength regions, is a formidable challenge. Three red TADF emitters, namely NAI_R1, NAI_R2, and NAI_R3, are developed by phenyl encapsulation and tert‐butyl substitution on a prototypical 1,8‐naphthalimide‐acridine hybrid. This design strategy not only grants these molecules high solubility, excellent thermal stability, and good film‐forming ability, but also pulls down their charge‐transfer (CT) energy levels excited states. Furthermore, dispersing these emitters into two different host materials of mCP and mCPCN finely tailors their CT‐state energy levels. More importantly, a synergistic combination of molecular engineering and host selection can effectively manipulate the competition between the radiative and nonradiative decay rates of the CT singlet states of these emitters and the reverse intersystem crossing from their triplet to singlet states. Consequently, the optimal combination of NAI_R3 emitter and mCP host successfully results in a state‐of‐the‐art external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 22.5% for solution‐processed red TADF organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) with an emission peak above 620 nm. This finding demonstrates that a synergistic strategy of molecular engineering and host selection with TADF emitters could provide a new pathway for developing efficient solution‐processable TADF systems.     

Achieving Nearly 30% External Quantum Efficiency for Orange–Red Organic Light Emitting Diodes by Employing Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters Composed of 1,8‐Naphthalimide‐Acridine Hybrids

The combination of rigid acridine donor and 1,8‐naphthalimide acceptor has afforded two orange–red emitters of NAI‐DMAC and NAI‐DPAC with high rigidity in molecular structure and strongly pretwisted charge transfer state. Endowed with high photoluminescence quantum yields (Φ_PL), distinct thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) characteristics, and preferentially horizontal emitting dipole orientations, these emitters afford record‐high orange–red TADF organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) with external quantum efficiencies of up to 21–29.2%, significantly surpassing all previously reported orange‐to‐red TADF OLEDs. Notably, the influence of microcavity effect is verified to support the record‐high efficiency. This finding relaxes the usually stringent material requirements for effective TADF emitters by comprising smaller radiative transition rates and less than ideal Φ_PLs.     

Triplet Harvesting with 100% Efficiency by Way of Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence in Charge Transfer OLED Emitters

Organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) have their performance limited by the number of emissive singlet states created upon charge recombination (25%). Recently, a novel strategy has been proposed, based on thermally activated up‐conversion of triplet to singlet states, yielding delayed fluorescence (TADF), which greatly enhances electroluminescence. The energy barrier for this reverse intersystem crossing mechanism is proportional to the exchange energy (ΔE_ST) between the singlet and triplet states; therefore, materials with intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) states, where it is known that the exchange energy is small, are perfect candidates. However, here it is shown that triplet states can be harvested with 100% efficiency via TADF, even in materials with ΔE_ST of more than 20 kT (where k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the temperature) at room temperature. The key role played by lone pair electrons in achieving this high efficiency in a series of ICT molecules is elucidated. The results show the complex photophysics of efficient TADF materials and give clear guidelines for designing new emitters.     

Solution-Processable Pure Green Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitter Based on the Multiple Resonance Effect

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials based on the multiple resonance (MR) effect are applied in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), combining high color purity and efficiency. However, they are not fabricated via solution-processing, which is an economical approach toward the mass production of OLED displays. Here, a solution-processable MR-TADF material (OAB-ABP-1), with an extended π-skeleton and bulky substituents, is designed. OAB-ABP-1 is synthesized from commercially available starting materials via a four-step process involving one-shot double borylation. OAB-ABP-1 presents attractive photophysical properties, a narrow emission band, a high photoluminescence quantum yield, a small energy gap between S₁ and T₁, and low activation energy for reverse intersystem crossing. These properties are attributed to the alternating localization of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals induced by the boron, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. Furthermore, to facilitate charge recombination, two novel semiconducting polymers with similar ionization potentials to that of OAB-ABP-1 are synthesized for use as interlayer and emissive layer materials. A solution-processed OLED device is fabricated using OAB-ABP-1 and the aforementioned polymers; it exhibits pure green electroluminescence with a small full-width at half-maximum and a high external quantum efficiency with minimum efficiency roll-off.