High-Performance Fluorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Utilizing an Asymmetric Anthracene Derivative as an Electron-Transporting Material.

Fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes with thermally activated delayed fluorescent sensitizers (TSF-OLEDs) have aroused wide attention, the power efficiencies of which, however, are limited by the mutual exclusion of high electron-transport mobility and large triplet energy of electron-transporting materials (ETMs). Here, an asymmetric anthracene derivative with electronic properties manipulated by different side groups is developed as an ETM to promote TSF-OLED performances. Multiple intermolecular interactions are observed, leading to a kind of "cable-like packing" in the crystal and favoring the simultaneous realization of high electron-transporting mobility and good exciton-confinement ability, albeit the low triplet energy of the ETM. The optimized TSF-OLEDs exhibit a record-high maximum external quantum efficiency/power efficiency of 24.6%/76.0 lm W-1 , which remain 23.8%/69.0 lm W-1 at a high luminance of even 5000 cd m-2 with an extremely low operation voltage of 3.14 V. This work opens a new paradigm for designing ETMs and also paves the way toward practical application of TSF-OLEDs.