Are Re(i) phenanthroline complexes suitable candidates for OLEDs? Answers from DFT and TD-DFT investigations†
Abstract
The electronic structure and spectroscopic properties of seven recently reported rhenium(I) phenanthroline complexes were investigated theoretically by density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) methods. All the seven complexes are shown here to be better electron transport materials with high quantum efficiency in OLED devices due to their high electron transport mobility and low λelectron values. Particularly, among these seven chosen complexes the difference between λhole and λelectron for tricarbonyl Re(I) complexes is smaller, suggesting that these complexes have a better hole- and electron-transport balance in OLED devices. The absorption is associated with 1MLCT/1LLCT transitions while the emission transition has 3MLCT/3LLCT/3ILCT character as revealed by natural transition orbital (NTO) analysis. The calculated results show that the absorption and emission transitions and device efficiency can be changed by varying the nature and position of the axial ligands as revealed by the structural and bonding features of the complexes through natural bond orbital (NBO) and quantum theory of atoms in molecule (QTAIM) analysis.
- This article is part of the themed collection: High performance computing in the chemistry of materials