A Quadruple-Borylated Multiple-Resonance Emitter with para/meta Heteroatomic Patterns for Narrowband Orange-Red Emission

Abstract

Hindered by spectral broadening issues with redshifted emission, long-wavelength (e.g., maxima beyond 570 nm) multiple resonance (MR) emitters with full width at half maxima (FWHMs) below 20 nm remain absent. Herein, by strategically embedding diverse boron (B)/nitrogen (N) atomic pairs into a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) skeleton, we propose a hybrid pattern for the construction of a long-wavelength narrowband MR emitter. The proof-of-concept emitter B4N6-Me realized orange-red emission with an extremely small FWHM of 19 nm (energy unit: 70 meV), representing the narrowest FWHM among all reported long-wavelength MR emitters. Theoretical calculations revealed that the cooperation of the applied para B-π-N and para B-π-B/N-π-N patterns is complementary, which gives rise to both narrowband and redshift characteristics. The corresponding organic light-emitting diode (OLED) employing B4N6-Me achieved state-of-the-art performance, e.g., a narrowband orange-red emission with an FWHM of 27 nm (energy unit: 99 meV), an excellent maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 35.8 %, and ultralow efficiency roll-off (EQE of 28.4 % at 1000 cd m−2). This work provides new insights into the further molecular design and synthesis of long-wavelength MR emitters.