Issue 14, 2018

Excellent n-type light emitters based on AIE-active silole derivatives for efficient simplified organic light-emitting diodes

Abstract

In order to fabricate high-performance, non-doped and simplified OLEDs, excellent p/n-type light emitters with both high solid-state emission efficiencies and good carrier-transporting abilities are urgently needed, especially efficient n-type light emitters. Herein, we designed and synthesized four new silole derivatives, (PBI)2DMTPS, (PBI)2MPPS, (PPI)2DMTPS, and (PPI)2MPPS, consisting of the 2,3,4,5-tetraphenylsilole unit and 1-phenyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazole (PBI) or 1-phenyl-1H-phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazole (PPI) groups. These novel siloles are aggregation-induce emission (AIE)-active and highly emissive in solid films, and show good thermal stabilities and low LUMO energy levels. It is noteworthy that the amorphous films of (PBI)2DMTPS and (PBI)2MPPS present high electron mobilities of 1.24 × 10−4 and 3.42 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively, at an electric field of 5.5 × 105 V cm−1, which are superior to that of 1,3,5-tris(phenyl-2-benzimidazolyl)benzene (TPBi). The non-doped trilayer OLED of (PPI)2DMTPS exhibits an outstanding electroluminescence (EL) performance with efficiencies of 15.06 cd A−1, 16.24 lm W−1 and 4.84%. More importantly, an efficient double-layer OLED is achieved based on (PBI)2DMTPS, offering comparable EL efficiencies (13.30 cd A−1, 14.51 lm W−1 and 4.25%) with respect to those of its trilayer OLED (13.50 cd A−1, 12.58 lm W−1 and 4.22%). These results demonstrate an effective approach towards n-type light emitters for efficient, simplified and low-cost OLEDs.

Graphical abstract: Excellent n-type light emitters based on AIE-active silole derivatives for efficient simplified organic light-emitting diodes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Nov. 2017
Accepted
01 Dec. 2017
First published
01 Dec. 2017

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018,6, 3690-3698

Excellent n-type light emitters based on AIE-active silole derivatives for efficient simplified organic light-emitting diodes

H. Nie, B. Chen, J. Zeng, Y. Xiong, Z. Zhao and B. Z. Tang, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018, 6, 3690 DOI: 10.1039/C7TC05062C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements