Fusion of Multi-Resonance Fragment with Conventional Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon for Nearly BT.2020 Green Emission

Herein, we report a general strategy for achieving ultra-pure green emissions by suppressing the shoulder peaks in the emission spectra of conventional polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Through precise synthetic fusion of multi-resonance (MR) fragments with conventional PAH, extended pi-conjugation lengths, increased molecular rigidity, and reduced vibrational frequency could be simultaneously realized. The proof-of-concept emitters exhibited ultra-pure green emissions with dominant peaks at ca. 521 nm, photoluminescence quantum yields that are greater than 99 %, a small full-width-at-half-maximum of 23 nm, and CIE coordinates of (0.16, 0.77). The bottom-emitting organic light-emitting diode (OLED) exhibited a record-high CIEy value of 0.74 and a high maximum external quantum efficiency of 30.5 %. The top-emitting OLED not only achieved a BT.2020 green color (CIE: 0.17, 0.78) for the first time but also showed superior performance among all green OLED devices, with a current efficiency of 220 cd A(-).

Automated summary

This study presents a strategy to achieve ultra-pure green emissions by suppressing shoulder peaks in the emission spectra of conventional polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). By synthesizing multi-resonance fragments with conventional PAH, extended pi-conjugation lengths, increased molecular rigidity, and reduced vibrational frequency were simultaneously achieved. The proof-of-concept emitters showed excellent optical properties and have the potential for wide applications in organic optoelectronic devices.