Tetraphenylethene: a versatile AIE building block for the construction of efficient luminescent materials for organic light-emitting diodes

TLDR

Efficient solid‑state luminescent materials are crucial for optoelectronics, and the recently popular propeller‑like AIE luminogens—especially tetraphenylethene (TPE)—have emerged as archetypal molecules with strong AIE properties. The authors aim to develop an effective strategy that uses TPE as a building block to create efficient solid‑state emitters. The strategy involves synthesizing TPE‑based luminogenic materials and integrating them into organic light‑emitting diodes. The synthetic approach proves applicable, and the resulting materials demonstrate effective performance in OLED devices.

Abstract

Luminescent materials with efficient solid-state emissions are important for the advancement of optoelectronics. Recently, a new class of propeller-like luminogenic molecules with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics has drawn increasing research interest. Among them, tetraphenylethene (TPE) is an archetypal luminogen with a simple molecule structure but shows a splendid AIE effect. Utilizing TPE as a building block, an effective strategy to create efficient solid-state emitters is developed. In this feature article, we review mainly our recent work on the construction of luminogenic materials from TPE and present their applications in organic light-emitting diodes. The applicability of the synthetic strategy and the utility of the resulting materials are demonstrated.