Carbazole–benzocarbazole fragments having derivative as very efficient host material for TADF based OLEDs

Abstract

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are widely adopted in modern display and lighting technologies; however, while significant progress has been achieved in the development of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters, comparatively limited attention has been paid to the rational design of compatible host materials. In this work, a carbazole–benzocarbazole-based derivative, BCCOX, was designed and synthesized as an efficient host material for green TADF OLEDs. BCCOX maintains excellent thermal integrity, exhibiting a decomposition onset beyond 400 °C and a high glass transition temperature of approximately 194 °C, ensuring morphological integrity and operational reliability under device fabrication and operating conditions. The material further possesses a wide optical bandgap of 3.6 eV and favorable exciton dynamics, enabling effective exciton confinement and utilization in TADF systems. When employed as the host matrix in green TADF OLED devices, BCCOX delivers a maximum external quantum efficiency of 10.4%, along with a current efficiency of 20.6 cd A⁻¹ and a power efficiency of 12.7 lm W⁻¹ at relatively low driving voltages. These results demonstrate that carbazole–benzocarbazole architectures offer a robust and versatile platform for high-performance host materials, positioning BCCOX as a promising candidate for efficient, stable, and cost-effective next-generation OLED display applications.