Advancing Triplet Exciton Harvesting Through Heavy Atom Selenium Manipulation in Multiple Resonance Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescent Emitters

Abstract

In the development of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with high efficiency and minimal efficiency roll-off, fast reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) in multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) materials is critical. The RISC process is typically hindered by insufficient spin-orbital coupling (SOC). Incorporating heavy atom selenium into the MR-TADF structure has the potential to enhance SOC through the heavy atom effect. However, the specific placement of selenium within the molecule results in different enhancements of SOC, with the detailed interplay between these factors yet to be elucidated. The introduction of a selenium-containing moiety, phenoxaselenine, into the MR-TADF structure at different substituted positions is undertaken, revealing that the molecule with 3-substituted phenoxaselenine exhibits faster RISC transition and a significant increase in SOC between higher triplet excited states and S1 state, compared to the molecule with 2-substituted phenoxaselenine. Significantly reduced efficiency roll-off is achieved for the narrow-band emission OLEDs based on the molecule with 3-substituted phenoxaselenine owing to the enhanced heavy atom effect, giving an impressive external quantum efficiency above 20% even under 10 000 cd m−2 in the corresponding OLED device. These results underscore the potential of strategic heavy atom effect manipulation in MR-TADF materials for efficient spin-flipping.