Stable, High-Efficiency Voltage-Dependent Color-Tunable Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with a Single Tetradentate Platinum(II) Emitter Having Long Operational Lifetime

Voltage-dependent, color-tunable organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are appealing tools that can be used for the visualization of electronic output signal of sensors. Nonetheless, the literature-reported color-tunable OLEDs that have a simple single-cell device structure suffer from relatively low efficiency, pronounced efficiency roll-off, color-aging, and short operation lifetime, all of which limit their practical applications. Here, a novel co-host-in-double-emissive-layer (CHIDEL) device, designed to enhance the performance of color-tunable OLEDs with the use of a single tetradentate Pt[(ONCN)-N-<^>-C-<^>-N-<^>] emitter, is described. When Pt-X-2 is used as a single emitter in an optimized CHIDEL device, a white OLED with tunable Commission International de I'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates from (0.47, 0.44) at 3 V to (0.36, 0.48) at 11 V, a high color rendering index of 82, and high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of up to 20.75% can be achieved. By using Pt-X-4 as a single emitter, the voltage-dependent color-tunable CHIDEL device, with CIE coordinates shifted from (0.56, 0.43) at 3 V to (0.42, 0.55) at 11 V, demonstrates a high luminance of beyond 90 000 cd m(-2) and a high EQE of 23.23% at a luminance of 1300 cd m(-2). A long-lifetime time to 90% of the initial luminance (LT90) of almost 20 000 h is demonstrated for the color-tunable OLED with Pt-X-4 emitting dopant.

Automated summary

A novel co-host-in-double-emissive-layer (CHIDEL) device has been introduced to enhance the performance of color-tunable OLEDs, achieving tunable CIE coordinates, high color rendering index, and high external quantum efficiency. By optimizing the CHIDEL device and using appropriate emitters, high efficiency and long lifetime of color-tunable OLEDs can be achieved.