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Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters for Light-Emitting Diodes and Sensing Applications

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Fluorescence in Industry

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Fluorescence ((SS FLUOR,volume 18))

Abstract

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) has revamped the scientific and technological interest in metal-free organic fluorescent compounds in recent years. The application of TADF emitters in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) resulted in highly energy-efficient devices that promise to replace metal-complex systems based on iridium(III) and platinum(II) in a near future.

Three quarters of the excitons that are created by the electrical current driving an OLED are non-emissive triplet states, therefore unable to generate electroluminescence. The maximum device efficiency is thus limited to 25%. OLED emitters based on metal complexes respond to this problem by promoting emission directly from the triplet state, which is induced by the presence of the heavy metal that enhances spin-orbit coupling interactions. Remarkably, OLEDs with internal quantum efficiency of nearly 100% have been fabricated with metal complexes, owning to the fast intersystem crossing (ISC) and room-temperature phosphorescent properties of these materials. However, while the heavy-metal complexes have many advantages, they also show significant problems when applied in light-emitting diodes. These are scarce and expensive materials that create environmental challenges and are affected by strong degradation in the blue spectral region. These issues, therefore, may create difficulties for the utilization of metal complexes in areas that require high-volume manufacturing, such as in lighting and display technologies, and alternative materials free of heavy metals are needed. TADF molecules allow for efficient triplet harvesting with no use of heavy-metal atoms and appear to improve device stability in the blue region. In addition, they display interesting properties that grant sensitivity to several parameters of the surrounding media, making it an ideal tool for optical sensing applications. TADF research toward application in lighting devices started in 2012 and had not yet entered in commercial applications, as of mid-2018. This chapter covers the principles governing the mechanism behind the TADF process, the recent developments on TADF emitter design, and their planned applications in commercial devices.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The first generation of OLEDs emerged in 1996 and was based on emitter with prompt fluorescence, displaying a maximum IQE of 25%. In the second generation, fluorescent emitters were replaced with heavy-metal, mainly iridium and platinum, phosphorescent complexes, which allowed T1→S0 transition due to increased spin-orbit coupling, ultimately allowing an IQE of 100%.

Abbreviations

ΔE ST :

Singlet-triplet energy gap

A:

Acceptor moiety

CT:

Charge transfer

Cz:

Carbazole

D:

Donor moiety

DBTO2 :

Dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide

DF:

Delayed fluorescence

DPSO2 :

Diphenylsulfoxide

EQE:

External quantum efficiency

ESIPT:

Excited-state intramolecular proton transfer

FRET:

Förster resonance energy transfer

HOMO:

Highest occupied molecular orbital

IQE:

Internal quantum efficiency

ISC:

Intersystem crossing

L:

Ligand

LUMO:

Lowest unoccupied molecular orbital

M:

Metal center

MLCT:

Metal-to-ligand charge transfer

OLED:

Organic light-emitting diode

PF:

Prompt fluorescence

PH:

Phosphorescence

PhOLED:

Phosphorescence-based organic light-emitting diode

PLQY:

Photoluminescence quantum yield

PN:

Phthalonitrile

RISC:

Reverse intersystem crossing

S1 :

Lowest excited singlet state

SOC:

Spin-orbit coupling

T1 :

Lowest triplet excited state

TADF:

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence

TTA:

Triplet-triplet annihilation

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Acknowledgements

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) is acknowledged for funding fellowships SFRH/BPD/120599/2016 (JA) and SFRH/BD/118525/2016 (TP) and project PTDC/QUIQFI/32007/2017.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CQFM-IN and iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    João Avó & Tiago Palmeira

  2. Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Fernando B. Dias

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  1. João Avó
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  2. Tiago Palmeira
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  3. Fernando B. Dias
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Correspondence to Fernando B. Dias .

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  1. CQFM-IN and iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Bruno Pedras

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Avó, J., Palmeira, T., Dias, F.B. (2019). Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters for Light-Emitting Diodes and Sensing Applications. In: Pedras, B. (eds) Fluorescence in Industry. Springer Series on Fluorescence, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/4243_2019_8

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