Over 10% EQE Near-Infrared Electroluminescence Based on a Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitter

TLDR: In this article, a wedge-shaped Dπ-A-π-D emitter with thermally activated delayed fluorescence property and a small single-triplet splitting (ΔEst) of 0.14 eV is presented.

Abstract: Significant effort has been made to develop novel material systems to improve the efficiency of near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes (NIR OLEDs). Of those, fluorescent chromophores are mostly studied because of their advantages in cost and tunability. However, it is still rare for fluorescent NIR emitters to present good color purities in the NIR range and to have high external quantum efficiency (EQE). Here, a wedge-shaped D-π-A-π-D emitter APDC-DTPA with thermally activated delayed fluorescence property and a small single-triplet splitting (ΔEst) of 0.14 eV is presented. The non-doped NIR device exhibits excellent performance with a maximum EQE of 2.19% and a peak wavelength of 777 nm. Remarkably, when 10 wt% of APDC-DTPA is doped in 1,3,5-tris(1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)benzene host, an extremely high EQE of 10.19% with an emission peak of 693 nm is achieved. All these values represent the best result for NIR OLEDs based on a pure organic fluorescent emitter with similar device structure and color gamut.