Blocking Energy-Loss Pathways for Ideal Fluorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescent Sensitizers

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence-sensitized fluorescence (TSF) offer the possibility of attaining an ultimate high efficiency with low roll-off utilizing noble-metal free, easy-to-synthesize, pure organic fluorescent emitters. However, the performances of TSF-OLEDs are still unsatisfactory. Here, TSF-OLEDs with breakthrough efficiencies even at high brightnesses by suppressing the competitive deactivation processes, including direct charge recombination on conventional fluorescent dopants (CFDs) and Dexter energy transfer from the host to the CFDs, are demonstrated. On the one hand, electronically inert terminal-substituents are introduced to protect the electronically active core of the CFDs; on the other hand, delicate device structures are designed to provide multiple energy-funneling paths. As a result, unprecedentedly high maximum external quantum efficiency/power efficiency of 24%/71.4 lm W-1 in a green TSF-OLED are demonstrated, which remain at 22.6%/52.3 lm W-1 even at a high luminance of 5000 cd m(-2). The work unlocks the potential of TSF-OLEDs, paving the way toward practical applications.