Designing thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters with through-space charge transfer: a theoretical study

Abstract

Recently, thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules with through-space charge transfer (TSCT) features have been widely applied in developing organic light-emitting diodes with high luminescence efficiencies. The performance of TSCT-TADF molecules depends highly on their molecular structures. Therefore, theoretical investigation plays a significant role in designing novel highly efficient TSCT-TADF molecules. Herein, we theoretically investigate two recently reported TSCT-TADF molecules, 1′-(2,12-di-t-butyl[1,4]benzoxaborinino[2,3,4-kl]phenoxaborinin-7-yl)-10-phenyl-10H-spiro[acridine-9,9′-fluorene] (AC-BO) and 1-(2,12-di-t-butyl[1,4]benzoxaborinino[2,3,4-kl]phenoxaborinin-7-yl)-9′,9′-dimethyl-9′H-spiro [fluorene-9,5′-quinolino[3,2,1-de]acridine](QAC-BO). The calculated photophysical properties (e.g. excited state energy levels and luminescence properties) for these two compounds are in good agreement with experimental data. Based on the systematic analysis of structure–performance relationships, we design three novel TSCT-TADF molecules with high molecular rigidity and evident TSCT features, i.e., DQAC-DBO, DQAC-SBO, and DQAC-NBO. They exhibit deep-blue light emissions and fast reverse intersystem crossing rates (K_RISCs). Our calculations demonstrate that the nearly coplanar orientation of the donor and acceptor is critical to achieve remarkable K_RISCs and fluorescence efficiencies in TSCT-TADF molecules.