High efficiency blue organic light-emitting diodes with below-bandgap electroluminescence.

Vasilopoulou, Maria; Mohd Yusoff, Abd Rashid Bin; Daboczi, Matyas; Conforto, Julio; Gavim, Anderson Emanuel Ximim; da Silva, Wilson Jose; Macedo, Andreia Gerniski; Soultati, Anastasia et al. · Nat Commun · 2021

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

Blue organic light-emitting diodes require high triplet interlayer materials, which induce large energetic barriers at the interfaces resulting in high device voltages and reduced efficiencies. Here, we alleviate this issue by designing a low triplet energy hole transporting interlayer with high mobility, combined with an interface exciplex that confines excitons at the emissive layer/electron transporting material interface. As a result, blue thermally activated delay fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes with a below-bandgap turn-on voltage of 2.5 V and an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 41.2% were successfully fabricated. These devices also showed suppressed efficiency roll-off maintaining an EQE of 34.8% at 1000 cd m<sup>-2</sup>. Our approach paves the way for further progress through exploring alternative device engineering approaches instead of only focusing on the demanding synthesis of organic compounds with complex structures.