Efficient nondoped blue organic light-emitting diodes based on phenanthroimidazole-substituted anthracene derivatives

A series of new blue materials based on highly fluorescent di(aryl)anthracene and electron-transporting phenanthroimidazole functional cores: 2-(4-(anthracen-9-yl)phenyl)-1-phenyl-1H-phenanthro9,10-d]imidazole (ACPI), 2-(4-(10-(naphthalen-1-yl)anthracen-9-yl)phenyl)-1-p-henyl-1H-phenanthro9,10-d]imidazole (1-NaCPI), 2-(4-(10-(naphthalen-2-yl)anthracen-9-yl)phenyl)-1-phenyl-1H-phenanthro9,10-d]imidazole (2-NaCPI) were designed and synthesized. These materials exhibit good film-forming and thermal properties as well as strong blue emission in the solid state. To explore the electroluminescence properties of these materials, three layer, two layer and single layer organic light-emitting devices were fabricated. With respect to the three layer device 4 using ACPI as the emitting layer, its maximum current efficiency reaches 4.36 cd A⁻¹ with Commission Internationale del’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.156, 0.155). In the single layer device 10 based on ACPI, maximum current efficiency reaches 1.59 cd A⁻¹ with Commission Internationale del’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.169, 0.177). Interestingly, both device 4 and 10 has low turn on voltage and negligible efficiency roll off at high current densities.