Photophysical Properties and Efficient, Stable, Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence of Donor-Acceptor Molecules Exhibiting Thermal Spin Upconversion.

The photophysical properties and electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of three donor-acceptor molecules composed of dicyanobenzene and methyl-, tert-butyl-, and phenyl-substituted carbazolyl groups, 1,2,3,5-tetrakis(3,6-disubstituted-carbazol-9-yl)-4,6-dicyanobenzene (4CzIPN-Me, 4CzIPN-tBu, and 4CzIPN-Ph, respectively) are described. These molecules show delayed fluorescence as a result of thermal spin upconversion from the lowest triplet state to the lowest singlet state at room temperature. The three molecules showed yellow to yellowish-red ECL. Remarkably, the ECL efficiencies of 4CzIPN-tBu in dichloromethane reached almost 40 %. Moreover, stable ECL was emitted from 4CzIPN-tBu and 4CzIPN-Ph. In case of 4CzIPN-Me, the ECL intensity decreased during voltage cycles because of polymerization. Quantum chemical calculations revealed that polymerization was inhibited by the steric hindrance of the bulky tert-butyl and phenyl groups on the carbazolyl moieties and lowered the spin density on the carbazolyl groups through electron conjugation for 4CzIPN-Ph.

Electrogenerated chemiluminescence of donor-acceptor molecules with thermally activated delayed fluorescence.

The electrochemistry and electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of four kinds of electron donor-acceptor molecules exhibiting thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) is presented. TADF molecules can harvest light energy from the lowest triplet state by spin up-conversion to the lowest singlet state because of small energy gap between these states. Intense green to red ECL is emitted from the TADF molecules by applying a square-wave voltage. Remarkably, it is shown that the efficiency of ECL from one of the TADF molecule could reach about 50%, which is comparable to its photoluminescence quantum yield.

Microfluidic White Organic Light-Emitting Diode Based on Integrated Patterns of Greenish-Blue and Yellow Solvent-Free Liquid Emitters.

We demonstrated a novel microfluidic white organic light-emitting diode (microfluidic WOLED) based on integrated sub-100-µm-wide microchannels. Single-µm-thick SU-8-based microchannels, which were sandwiched between indium tin oxide (ITO) anode and cathode pairs, were fabricated by photolithography and heterogeneous bonding technologies. 1-Pyrenebutyric acid 2-ethylhexyl ester (PLQ) was used as a solvent-free greenish-blue liquid emitter, while 2,8-di-tert-butyl-5,11-bis(4-tert-butylphenyl)-6,12-diphenyltetracene (TBRb)-doped PLQ was applied as a yellow liquid emitter. In order to form the liquid white light-emitting layer, the greenish-blue and yellow liquid emitters were alternately injected into the integrated microchannels. The fabricated electro-microfluidic device successfully exhibited white electroluminescence (EL) emission via simultaneous greenish-blue and yellow emissions under an applied voltage of 100 V. A white emission with Commission Internationale de l'Declairage (CIE) color coordinates of (0.40, 0.42) was also obtained; the emission corresponds to warm-white light. The proposed device has potential applications in subpixels of liquid-based microdisplays and for lighting.