With their unusual electronic structures, organic radical molecules display luminescence properties potentially relevant to lighting applications; yet, their luminescence quantum yield and stability lag behind those of other organic emitters. Here, we designed donor-acceptor neutral radicals based on an electron-poor perchlorotriphenylmethyl (PTM) or tris(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) methyl (TTM) radical moiety combined with different electron-rich groups. Experimental and quantum-chemical studies demonstrate that the molecules do not follow the Aufbau principle: The singly occupied molecular orbital (SOMO) is found to lie below the highest (doubly) occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). These donor-acceptor radicals have a strong emission yield (up to 54%) and high photo-stability, with estimated half-lives reaching up to several months under pulsed UV laser irradiation. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on such a radical emitter show deep-red / near-infrared emission with maximal external quantum efficiency of 5.3 %. Our results provide a simple molecular-design strategy for stable, highly luminescent radicals with non-Aufbau electronic structures.
Efficient organic emitters in the deep‐red region are rare due to the “energy gap law”. Herein, multiple boron (B)‐ and nitrogen (N)‐atoms embedded polycyclic heteroaromatics featuring hybridized π‐bonding/ non‐bonding molecular orbitals are constructed, providing a way to overcome the above luminescent boundary. The introduction of B‐phenyl‐B and N‐phenyl‐N structures enhances the electronic coupling of those para‐positioned atoms, forming restricted π‐bonds on the phenyl‐core for delocalized excited states and thus a narrow energy gap. The mutually ortho‐positioned B‐ and N‐atoms also induce a multi‐resonance effect on the peripheral skeleton for the non‐bonding orbitals, creating shallow potential energy surfaces to eliminate the high‐frequency vibrational quenching. The corresponding deep‐red emitters with peaks at 662 and 692 nm exhibit narrow full‐width at half‐maximums of 38 nm, high radiative decay rates of ca. 108 s−1, ≈100 % photo‐luminescence quantum yields and record‐high maximum external quantum efficiencies of ca. 28 % in a normal planar organic light‐emitting diode structure, simultaneously.
Some fundamental questions in the organic solar cell (OSC) community are related to the role of bulk and interfacial morphology on key processes such as charge generation, recombination, and extraction...
Multiple donor–acceptor‐type carbazole–benzonitrile derivatives that exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) are the state of the art in efficiency and stability in sky‐blue organic light‐emitting diodes. However, such a motif still suffers from low reverse intersystem crossing rates (kRISC) with emission peaks <470 nm. Here, a weak acceptor of cyanophenyl is adopted to replace the stronger cyano one to construct blue emitters with multiple donors and acceptors. Both linear donor–π–donor and acceptor–π–acceptor structures are observed to facilitate delocalized excited states for enhanced mixing between charge‐transfer and locally excited states. Consequently, a high kRISC of 2.36 × 106 s−1 with an emission peak of 456 nm and a maximum external quantum efficiency of 22.8% is achieved. When utilizing this material to sensitize a blue multiple‐resonance TADF emitter, the corresponding device simultaneously realizes a maximum external quantum efficiency of 32.5%, CIEy ≈ 0.12, a full width at half maximum of 29 nm, and a T80 (time to 80% of the initial luminance) of > 60 h at an initial luminance of 1000 cd m−2.
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