Efficient narrow-band red-light-emitting diodes based on ambipolar organic single crystals

Organic single crystals have attracted immense attention in the field of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), owing to their unique advantages of long-range molecular ordering, high carrier mobility, high fluorescent quantum yield and low impurity content. Development of high-performance organic single crystal-based OLEDs with narrow-band emission is critical for high-purity displaying, yet it is still a major challenge to obtain a crystal-based OLED with both narrow fullwidth at half maximum (FWHM) and high electroluminescence (EL) performance. Here, molecular doping engineering is employed by taking 2,6-diphenylanthracene (DPA) as host crystal and pentacene (Pen) as red guest emitter material. 2,2 '-Bis[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-5,5 '-bithiazole (BTPB) with strong electron-withdrawing ability are further doped for the growth of ambipolar crystals in order for balanced hole and electron mobility. As a result, DPA: 3% Pen: 15% BTPB crystal-based OLEDs exhibit a maximum luminance and current efficiency of 10,850 cd m(-2) and 1.91 cd A(-1), respectively, and an EQE of 1.51%. The obtained red-light-emission with a narrow FWHM increases high color purity of crystal-based OLEDs. It demonstrates that high-performance crystal-based OLEDs with narrow-band emission are of great significance for the development of organic electronics, especially for display and lighting applications.

Automated summary

Organic single crystals have unique advantages in the field of OLEDs, but it is still a challenge to obtain crystal-based OLEDs with both narrow bandwidth and high electroluminescence performance. This study successfully developed high-performance crystal-based OLEDs with narrow-band emission using molecular doping engineering, which has great potential for applications in organic electronics.