Donor-only substituted benzene achieves thermally activated delayed fluorescence

Abstract

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) is a promising mechanism for harvesting triplet excitons in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The donor-acceptor (D-A) design is the most conventional strategy for developing efficient TADF emitters. A subsequently emerged approach, known as the multiple resonance (MR) effect, also employs electron-donating and electron-withdrawing functional groups. Thus, developing TADF materials has traditionally relied on ingenuity in selecting and combining two functional units. Here, we have realized a TADF molecule by utilizing only a carbazole donor moiety. This molecule is an unusual example in the family of TADF materials and offers better insight into the electronic structures in the excited states for luminescent materials.