Efficient and bright blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence from light-emitting electrochemical cells

Light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) comprising metal-free molecules that emit by the process of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) can be both sustainable and low cost. However, the blue emission performance of current TADF-LECs is unfortunately poor, which effectively prohibits their utilization in important applications, such as illumination and full-color displays. Here, this drawback is addressed through the development of a TADF-LEC, which delivers blue light emission (peak wavelength = 475 nm) with a high external quantum efficiency of 5.0%, corresponding to a current efficacy of 9.6 cd A-1. It is notable that this high efficiency is attained at bright luminance of 740 cd m-2, and that the device turn-on is very fast. It is demonstrated that this accomplishment is enabled by the blending of a carbazole-based 9-(4-(4,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-2-methylphenyl)-3,6-dimethyl-9H-carbazole guest emitter with a compatible carbazole-based tris(4-carbazoyl-9-ylphenyl)amine:2,6-bis(3-(carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)pyridine blend-host for the attainment of bipolar electrochemical doping, balanced electron/hole transport, and exciplex-effectuated host-to-guest energy transfer