Cyclometalated Ir complexes in polymer organic light-emitting devices

Abstract

Several new iridium based cyclometalated complexes were investigated as phosphorescent dopants for molecularly doped polymeric organic light-emitting diodes. Specifically, the complexes used in this study were iridium (III) bis(2-phenylpyridinato-N,C2′) (acetylacetonate) [ppy], iridium (III) bis(7,8-benzoquinolinato-N,C3′) (acetylacetonate) [bzq], iridium (III) bis(2-phenylbenzothiazolato-N,C2′) (acetylacetonate) [bt], iridium (III) bis(2-(2′-naphthyl)benzothiazolato-N,C2′) (acetylacetonate) [bsn] and iridium (III) bis(2-(2′-benzo[4,5-a]thienyl)pyridinato-N,C3′) (acetylacetonate) [btp]. Single layer devices of doped polyvinylcarbazole: 2-(4-biphenyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole give maximum external quantum efficiencies that varied from 3.5% for the ppy dopant to 0.4% for the btp dopant. Several different device heterostructure architectures were explored, and the best quantum efficiency of the devices reached 4.2% for the heterostructures.