We report the synthesis and characterization of three novel bis-cyclometalated iridium complexes with phenyl-benzoquinoline (pbq) analogs as ligands, namely, Ir(pbq-f)2acac, Ir(dpbq-f)2acac, and Ir(pbq-g)2acac, where pbq-f, dpbq-f and pbq-g representing 3-phenyl-benzo[f]quinoline, 1,3-diphenyl-benzo[f]quinoline, and 2-phenyl-benzo[g]quinoline, respectively. Interesting distinctions were observed in the electronic structures, photophysical and electroluminescent properties of these complexes. Ir(pbq-f)2acac and Ir(dpbq-f)2acac are orange-red emissive phosphors with strong metal–ligand charge transfer (3MLCT) emission bands centered at 577 and 604nm, respectively, while Ir(pbq-g)2acac shows the largest red-shift to near-infrared (NIR) region with a peak emission at 708nm and a shoulder around 780nm in solution. All the phosphors exhibit strong electrophosphorescence with negligible triplet-triplet annihilation due to quite short phosphorescent lifetimes (∼0.5µs) and high emission quantum yields. Orange-red emissive Ir(dpbq-f)2acac gives a maximum current efficiency of 17.4 cd/A and external quantum efficiency (ηext) of 10.5%. NIR emissive Ir(pbq-g)2acac shows a promising emission centered at 720nm with a shoulder above 780nm. Forward light output is 4.6 mW/cm2 at 13V and the maximum ηext is nearly 1.1%. Our study demonstrates that the constitutional isomers of cyclometallated ligand distinctly control the electronic structures and emissive properties of the corresponding Ir complexes and the obtained NIR emissive Ir(pbq-g)2acac implies the potential to realize highly efficient NIR OLEDs based on Ir(III) complexes.
You have access to this article
Please wait while we load your content...
Something went wrong. Try again?