Blue-phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with 34.1% external quantum efficiency (EQE) and 79.6 lm W(-1) are demonstrated using a hole-transporting layer and electron-transporting layer with low refractive index values. Using optical simulations, it is predicted that outcoupling efficiencies with EQEs > 60% can be achieved if organic layers with a refractive index of 1.5 are used for OLEDs.

Orientation of emitting dipoles is one of the most important material properties influencing the efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Recently, even globular-shaped Ir complexes, especially heteroleptic Ir complexes, have been reported to have horizontal emitting dipole orientation (EDO) to improve the external quantum efficiency (EQE) over 30%. Still the relationship between molecular structure of Ir complexes and their EDO has not been fully understood yet. Here, we report that substituents at the para-position of the pyridine in the main ligands of Ir complexes play a pivotal role inducing the orientation of heteroleptic Ir complexes. Substitution of aliphatic and aromatic functional moieties at the position leads to high horizontal emitting dipole orientation with the horizontal dipole ratio up to 86.5% to realize unprecedentedly high-efficiency yellow and green OLEDs, with EQEs of 38% and 36%, respectively. Elongated and planar substituents with high electrostatic potential enlarge the interacting surface region between Ir complex and host molecules, resulting in stacking Ir complexes parallel to the film surface.

Excited charge-transfer complexes, or exciplexes, have attracted significant attention due to their potential applications to improving the performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs). In solid states, exciplexes exhibit extraordinary characteristics, including broad emission spectra, multiexponential photoluminescence (PL) decay curves, and spectral red shifts as time delays in transient PL. Here, we present experimental and theoretical evidence that all of the emission characteristics of solid-state exciplexes originate from differences in their dimer configurations, which have different charge transfer rates, emission energies, singlet−triplet energy gaps, kinetic rate constants, and emitting dipole orientations. This conclusion is based on experimental observations, quantum chemical calculations, and molecular dynamics simulations. These results enabled us to develop a model of the electronic structure of an exciplex in a solid-state medium. This comprehensive model accommodates all of the characteristics of the exciplex and can be used to further our understanding of OLEDs and OPVs.

Tetradentate Pt(II) complexes are promising emitters for deep blue organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) due to their emission energy and high photoluminescence efficiency. However, to obtain a pure blue color, spectral red‐shifts, and additional emission peaks at longer wavelengths, originating from strong intermolecular interactions between parallel Pt(II) complexes, must be avoided. Herein, a new class of deep‐blue emitting tetradentate Pt(II) complexes consisting of a non‐planar ligand and a bulky adamantyl group is reported. The six‐membered metallacycle structure renders the Pt(II) complex non‐planar. In addition, the bulky adamantyl groups increase intermolecular distances and decrease red‐shifts in the emission originating from strong dipole–dipole interactions. Therefore, these Pt(II) complexes exhibit little change in emission color with increasing dopant concentration. OLEDs incorporating these new Pt(II) complexes as emitters exhibit deep blue emission with a Commission International de L'Eclairage (CIE) y under 0.13 and a maximum external quantum efficiency of 22.6%, which is one of the highest observed for deep blue (CIE y < 0.15) phosphorescent OLEDs using Pt(II) complexes. These results provide a new approach for designing Pt(II) complexes for high efficiency deep blue OLEDs.

The use of exciplex hosts is attractive for high-performance phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs) and thermally activated delayed fluorescence OLEDs, which have high external quantum efficiency, low driving voltage, and low efficiency roll-off. However, exciplex hosts for deep-blue OLEDs have not yet been reported because of the difficulties in identifying suitable molecules. Here, we report a deep-blue-emitting exciplex system with an exciplex energy of 3.0 eV. It is composed of a carbazole-based hole-transporting material (mCP) and a phosphine-oxide-based electron-transporting material (BM-A10). The blue PhOLEDs exhibited maximum external quantum efficiency of 24% with CIE coordinates of (0.15, 0.21) and longer lifetime than the single host devices.

In contrast to the red and green regions, conventional fluorescent emitters continue to serve as blue emitters in commercialized organic light-emitting diodes. Many researchers have studied anthracene moieties as blue emitters, given their appropriate energy levels and good emission properties. We herein report two new deep blue-emitting anthracene derivatives that include p-xylene as moieties connecting the anthracene cores to side groups. We enhanced the efficiency by maximizing triplet− triplet fusion (TTF) without sacrificing emission color. The large steric hindrance imposed by the methyl groups of p-xylene creates a perpendicular geometry between p-xylene and the neighboring aromatic rings. Any extension of π-conjugation is thus disrupted, and the isolated core anthracene moiety emits a deep blue color with a high photoluminescence quantum yield. Moreover, the extensive steric hindrance suppresses vibration and rotation because the molecules are rigid. The high horizontal dipole ratio attributable to the large aspect ratio increases the outcoupling efficiency of the emitted light. Furthermore, the charge mobility and triplet harvesting ability are enhanced by decreasing the bulkiness of the side groups. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed that the bulkiness of the side group significantly impacted molecular density, which in turn affected the charge transport and TTF. We used two molecules, 2PPIAn (containing a phenyl side group) and 4PPIAn (containing a terphenyl side group), to form nondoped emission layers that exhibited maximum external quantum efficiencies of 8.9 and 7.1% with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage coordinates of (0.150, 0.060) and (0.152, 0.085), respectively.

The quantitative detection of circularly polarized light (CPL) is necessary in next-generation optical communication carrying high-density information and in phase-controlled displays exhibiting volumetric imaging. In the current technology, multiple pixels of different wavelengths and polarizers are required, inevitably resulting in high loss and low detection efficiency. Here, we demonstrate a highly efficient CPL-detecting transistor composed of chiral plasmonic nanoparticles with a high Khun’s dissymmetry (g-factor) of 0.2 and a high mobility conducting oxide of InGaZnO. The device successfully distinguished the circular polarization state and displayed an unprecedented photoresponsivity of over 1 A/W under visible CPL excitation. This observation is mainly attributed to the hot electron generation in chiral plasmonic nanoparticles and to the effective collection of hot electrons in the oxide semiconducting transistor. Such characteristics further contribute to opto-neuromorphic operation and the artificial nervous system based on the device successfully performs image classification work. We anticipate that our strategy will aid in the rational design and fabrication of a high-performance CPL detector and opto-neuromorphic operation with a chiral plasmonic structure depending on the wavelength and circular polarization state.

Azasiline-based blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters for blue fluorescent organic light emitting diodes.