Issue 1, 2019

Dual nature of exciplexes: exciplex-forming properties of carbazole and fluorene hybrid trimers

Abstract

Two exciplexes were detected for the first time for the known exciplex-forming system consisting of electron donating 1,3-bis(N-carbazolyl)benzene and electron accepting 2,4,6-tris[3-(diphenylphosphinyl)phenyl]-1,3,5-triazine. Exploiting thermal treatment, sky-blue (high-energy) and orange (low-energy) exciplexes were observed for a solid-state mixture of the compounds under electrical excitation. Similarly, stable high-energy and low-energy exciplexes were observed for new exciplex-forming systems consisting of 2,4,6-tris[3-(diphenylphosphinyl)phenyl]-1,3,5-triazine and one of four selected carbazole and fluorene hybrid trimers as donors. The high-energy exciplexes were observed when there was a small energy barrier between the locally excited state and the high-energy exciplex state. A large energy barrier between the locally excited state and the low-energy exciplex state was the reason that the dual nature of exciplexes was not discovered yet. Emission of both exciplexes was observed in electroluminescence spectra of exciplex-interface based devices using developed exiplex-forming systems as emitters. Observed under optical and electrical excitations, the low-energy exciplexes were separated using thermal treatment of the studied exciplex-forming systems. The exciplex-forming system consisting of 2,4,6-tris[3-(diphenylphosphinyl)phenyl]-1,3,5-triazine and 3,6-di(9-carbazolyl)-9-(2-ethylhexyl)carbazole, which exhibits thermally activated delayed fluorescence, showed the best performance in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on interface and volume exciplex emitters. The best device showed maximum external quantum and maximum current efficiencies of 18% and 54 cd A−1 respectively. Additionally, white OLEDs were fabricated exploiting sky-blue and orange emissions from a single exciplex-forming system. Our findings provide evidence of the dual nature of exciplexes and pave the way towards design of new exciplex-forming systems with high photoluminescence quantum yields and efficient exciplex-based devices.

Graphical abstract: Dual nature of exciplexes: exciplex-forming properties of carbazole and fluorene hybrid trimers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
17 Sep 2018
Accepted
06 Nov 2018
First published
06 Nov 2018

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2019,7, 25-32

Dual nature of exciplexes: exciplex-forming properties of carbazole and fluorene hybrid trimers

M. Guzauskas, D. Volyniuk, A. Tomkeviciene, A. Pidluzhna, A. Lazauskas and J. V. Grazulevicius, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2019, 7, 25 DOI: 10.1039/C8TC04708A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements