Efficient near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes with emission from spin doublet excitons

The development of luminescent organic radicals has resulted in materials with excellent optical properties for near-infrared emission. Applications of light generation in this range span from bioimaging to surveillance. Although the unpaired electron arrangements of radicals enable efficient radiat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature photonics 2024, Vol.18 (9), p.905-912
Main Authors: Cho, Hwan-Hee, Gorgon, Sebastian, Londi, Giacomo, Giannini, Samuele, Cho, Changsoon, Ghosh, Pratyush, Tonnelé, Claire, Casanova, David, Olivier, Yoann, Baikie, Tomi K., Li, Feng, Beljonne, David, Greenham, Neil C., Friend, Richard H., Evans, Emrys W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
140/125
639/624/1020/1091
639/638/439
Anthracene
Applied and Technical Physics
Atomic energy levels
Electron spin
Emissions
Emitters
Energy charge
Energy harvesting
Energy transfer
Excitation spectra
Excitons
I.R. radiation
Light emitting diodes
Medical imaging
Near infrared radiation
Optical properties
Organic light emitting diodes
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum chemistry
Quantum efficiency
Quantum Physics
Radicals
Spectroscopy
Triplet state
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Summary:The development of luminescent organic radicals has resulted in materials with excellent optical properties for near-infrared emission. Applications of light generation in this range span from bioimaging to surveillance. Although the unpaired electron arrangements of radicals enable efficient radiative transitions within the doublet-spin manifold in organic light-emitting diodes, their performance is limited by non-radiative pathways introduced in electroluminescence. Here we present a host–guest design for organic light-emitting diodes that exploits energy transfer with up to 9.6% external quantum efficiency for 800 nm emission. The tris(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)methyl-triphenyl-amine radical guest is energy-matched to the triplet state in a charge-transporting anthracene-derivative host. We show from optical spectroscopy and quantum-chemical modelling that reversible host–guest triplet–doublet energy transfer allows efficient harvesting of host triplet excitons. Exploiting the energy transfer between the host triplet states and spin doublet exciton states of a radical organic emitter enables near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes with an external quantum efficiency up to 9.6% at an emission wavelength of 800 nm.
ISSN:1749-4885
1749-4893
DOI:10.1038/s41566-024-01458-3