New cyclometalated iridium(III) complex as a phosphorescent dopant in organic light emitting devices

Abstract

A new cyclometalated iridium (III) bis[2-(4-chlorophenyl)benzothiazolato-N, C2]-acetylacetonate, (Cl-bt)2Ir(acac), was synthesized and identified by 1H NMR and elemental analysis. The application was studied of the new compound as a dopant in the hole transporting layer (HTL) of the following organic light emitting diode (OLED) structure: HTL/EL/ETL, where HTL was 4,4'-bis(9H-carbazol-9-yl)biphenyl (CBP) or N,N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-N, N'-diphenylbenzidine (TPD), incorporated in a poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) matrix; EL was an electroluminescent layer of bis(8-hydroxy-2-methylquinoline)- (4-phenylpheno-xy) aluminum (BAlq); and ETL was an electron-transporting layer of bis[2-(2-benzothiazoly) phenolato]zinc(II) (Zn(btz)2). We established that the electroluminescence spectra of the OLEDs at different dopant concentrations were basically the sum of the greenish-blue emission of BAlq and the yellowish-green emission of the Ir complex. It was also found that increasing the dopant concentration resulted in an increase in the relative electroluminescent intensity of the Ir complex emission, while that of BAlq decreased, thus a fine tuning of the OLED color was observed.