Since the first report in 2015, multiresonant thermally activated delayed fluorescent (MR‐TADF) compounds, a subclass of TADF emitters based on a heteroatom‐doped nanographene material, have come to the fore as attractive hosts as well as emitters for organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). MR‐TADF compounds typically show very narrow‐band emission, high photoluminescence quantum yields, and small ΔEST values, typically around 200 meV, coupled with high chemical and thermal stabilities. These materials properties have translated into some of the best reported deep‐blue TADF OLEDs. Here, a detailed review of MR‐TADF compounds and their derivatives reported so far is presented. This review comprehensively documents all MR‐TADF compounds, with a focus on the synthesis, optoelectronic behavior, and OLED performance. In addition, computational approaches are surveyed to accurately model the excited state properties of these compounds.

A new design strategy is introduced to address a persistent weakness with resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (R-TADF) emitters to reduce aggregation-caused quenching effects, which are identified as one of the key limiting factors. The emitter Mes 3 DiKTa shows an improved photoluminescence quantum yield of 80% compared to 75% for the reference DiKTa in 3.5 wt% 1,3-bis(N-carbazolyl)benzene. Importantly, emission from aggregates, even at high doping concentrations, is eliminated and aggregation-caused quenching is strongly curtailed. For both molecules, triplets are almost quantitatively upconverted into singlets in electroluminescence, despite a significant (≈0.21 eV) singlet-triplet energy gap (ΔE ST ), in line with correlated quantum-chemical calculations, and a slow reverse intersystem crossing. It is speculated that the lattice stiffness responsible for the narrow fluorescence and phosphorescence emission spectra also protects the triplets against nonradiative decay. An improved maximum external quantum efficiencies (EQE max ) of 21.1% for Mes 3 DIKTa compared to the parent DiKTa (14.7%) and, importantly, reduced efficiency roll-off compared to literature resonance TADF organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), shows the promise of this design strategy for future design of R-TADF emitters for OLED applications.The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.

An easy-to-access, near-UV-emitting linearly extended B,Ndoped heptacene with high thermal stability is designed and synthesized in good yields. This compound exhibits thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) at ambient temperature from a multiresonant (MR) state and represents a rare example of a non-triangulene-based MR-TADF emitter. At lower temperatures triplet−triplet annihilation dominates. The compound simultaneously possesses narrow, deep-blue emission with CIE coordinates of (0.17, 0.01). While delayed fluorescence results mainly from triplet−triplet annihilation at lower temperatures in THF solution, where aggregates form upon cooling, the TADF mechanism takes over around room temperature in solution when the aggregates dissolve or when the compound is well dispersed in a solid matrix. The potential of our molecular design to trigger TADF in larger acenes is demonstrated through the accurate prediction of ΔE ST using correlated wave-function-based calculations. On the basis of these calculations, we predicted dramatically different optoelectronic behavior in terms of both ΔE ST and the optical energy gap of two constitutional isomers where only the boron and nitrogen positions change. A comprehensive structural, optoelectronic, and theoretical investigation is presented. In addition, the ability of the achiral molecule to assemble on a Au(111) surface to a highly ordered layer composed of enantiomorphic domains of racemic entities is demonstrated by scanning tunneling microscopy.

A green multiple resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) emitter, DDiKTa, is developed by a simple dimerization strategy of the known MR-TADF emitter DiKTa.

Developing high‐efficiency purely organic blue organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) that meet the stringent industry standards is a major current research challenge. Hyperfluorescent device approaches achieve in large measure the desired high performance by combining the advantages of a high‐efficiency thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) assistant dopant with a narrowband deep‐blue multi‐resonant TADF (MR‐TADF) terminal emitter. However, this approach requires suitable spectral overlap to support Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the two. Here, a color tuning of a recently reported MR‐TADF B,N‐heptacene core through control of the boron substituents is demonstrated. While there is little impact on the intrinsic TADF properties—as both singlet and triplet energies decrease in tandem—this approach improves the emission color coordinate as well as the spectral overlap for blue hyperfluorescence OLEDs (HF OLEDs). Crucially, the red‐shifted and more intense absorption allows the new MR‐TADF emitter to pair with a high‐performance TADF assistant dopant and achieve maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 15% at color coordinates of (0.15 and 0.10). The efficiency values recorded for the device at a practical luminance of 100 cd m–2 are among the highest reported for HF TADF OLEDs with CIEy ≤ 0.1.