Phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) have attracted increased attention from both academic and industrial communities due to their potential practical application in high-resolution full-color displays and energy-saving solid-state lightings. The performance of phosphorescent OLEDs is mainly limited by the phosphorescent transition metal complexes (such as iridium(III), platinum(II), gold(III), ruthenium(II), copper(I) and osmium(II) complexes, etc.) which can play a crucial role in furnishing efficient energy transfer, balanced charge injection/transporting character and high quantum efficiency in the devices. It has been shown that functionalized main-group element (such as boron, silicon, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen, sulfur and fluorine, etc.) moieties can be incorporated into phosphorescent emitters and their host materials to tune their triplet energies, frontier molecular orbital energies, charge injection/transporting behavior, photophysical properties and thermal stability and hence bring about highly efficient phosphorescent OLEDs. So, in this review, the recent advances in the phosphorescent emitters and their host materials functionalized with various main-group moieties will be introduced from the point of view of their structure-property relationship. The main emphasis lies on the important role played by the main-group element groups in addressing the key issues of both phosphorescent emitters and their host materials to fulfill high-performance phosphorescent OLEDs.

Functionalization of phosphorescent emitters and their host materials by main-group elements for phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices.

Degradation Mechanisms and Reactions in Organic Light-Emitting Devices.

Blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) can play a critical role in the field of organic electroluminescence (EL). As the most important applications of OLEDs, both new generation full-color flat-panel displays and future energy-saving solid-state lighting sources require blue color EL to fulfill their functions properly. However, considerable challenges still exist in searching for highly efficient, color stable, and long-lifespan materials and devices that emit blue color, especially in the development of deep-blue emitters, which are indispensable for high-quality displays and lighting sources. Encouragingly, great progress has been made in the area of deep-blue OLEDs in recent years with continuous efforts made by scientists, who are responsible for the significant achievements in the field of OLEDs. Hence, in this review, the crucial tactics employed to obtain high performance deep-blue emitters are presented, including polymers, dendrimers, small organic molecules, delayed fluorescent systems, and phosphorescent emitters. Moreover, the future perspectives and ongoing challenges of this research frontier are also highlighted.

Recent advances of the emitters for high performance deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are increasingly used in displays replacing traditional flat panel displays; e.g., liquid crystal displays. Especially, the paradigm shifts in displays from rigid to flexible types accelerated the market change from liquid crystal displays to OLEDs. However, some critical issues must be resolved for expansion of OLED use, of which blue device performance is one of the most important. Therefore, recent OLED material development has focused on the design, synthesis and application of high-efficiency and long-life blue emitters. Well-known blue fluorescent emitters have been modified to improve their efficiency and lifetime, and blue phosphorescent emitters are being investigated to overcome the lifetime issue. Recently, thermally activated delayed fluorescent emitters have received attention due to the potential of high-efficiency and long-living emitters. Therefore, it is timely to review the recent progress and future prospects of high-efficiency blue emitters. In this feature article, we summarize recent developments in blue fluorescent, phosphorescent and thermally activated delayed fluorescent emitters, and suggest key issues for each emitter and future development strategies.

Recent Progress in High‐Efficiency Blue‐Light‐Emitting Materials for Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes

Herein we report a rational design strategy for tailoring intermolecular interactions to enhance room-temperature phosphorescence from purely organic materials in amorphous matrices at ambient conditions. The built-in strong halogen and hydrogen bonding between the newly developed phosphor G1 and the poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) matrix efficiently suppresses vibrational dissipation and thus enables bright room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) with quantum yields reaching 24%. Furthermore, we found that modulation of the strength of halogen and hydrogen bonding in the G1-PVA system by water molecules produced unique reversible phosphorescence-to-fluorescence switching behavior. This unique system can be utilized as a ratiometric water sensor.

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Tailoring intermolecular interactions for efficient room-temperature phosphorescence from purely organic materials in amorphous polymer matrices

Fluorine cleavage of the light blue heteroleptic triplet emitter FIrpic

Degradation of HTL layers during device operation in PhOLEDs

The commercial breakthrough of phosphorescent organic white light sources is presently hampered due to the unavailability of a stable blue phosphorescent emitter material. Moreover, only few analytical investigations have been made regarding the chemical degradation of the phosphorescent emitter materials during the processing or the operation of the devices.

https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/chem.2009.7.issue-4/s11532-009-0084-1/s11532-009-0084-1.xml

Varatharajan Sivasubramaniam

Papers

Fluorine cleavage of the light blue heteroleptic triplet emitter FIrpic

Degradation of HTL layers during device operation in PhOLEDs

Investigation of FIrpic in PhOLEDs via LC/MS technique