Pressure-shortened delayed fluorescence lifetime of solid-state thermally activated delayed fluorescent 4CzIPN: the structure evolution

Abstract

The incorporation of mechanochromic luminescence into thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules is a promising strategy for developing multifunctional mechanochromic luminescent materials. Nevertheless, due to the difficulties in systematic design, it is still challenging to controllably exploit the versatility of TADF molecules. In this work, we were surprised to find that the delayed fluorescence lifetime of 1,2,3,5-tetrakis(carbazol-9-yl)-4,6-dicyanobenzene crystals was continuously shortened with increasing pressure, which was ascribed to the increasing HOMO/LUMO overlap by planarization of the molecular conformation, as well as the pressure-induced emission enhancement and obvious multicolor emission at high pressure (green to red), owing to the formation of new interactions and the part-planarization of the molecular conformation, respectively. This study not only developed a new function of TADF molecules, but also provided a route to shorten the delayed fluorescence lifetime, which is beneficial for designing TADF-OLEDs with small efficiency roll-off.