Dual enhancement of electroluminescence efficiency and operational stability by rapid upconversion of triplet excitons in OLEDs

Recently, triplet harvesting via a thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) process has been established as a realistic route for obtaining ultimate internal electroluminescence (EL) quantum efficiency in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, the possibility that the rather long transient lifetime of the triplet excited states would reduce operational stability due to an increased chance for unwarranted chemical reactions has been a concern. Herein, we demonstrate dual enhancement of EL efficiency and operational stability in OLEDs by employing a TADF molecule as an assistant dopant and a fluorescent molecule as an end emitter. The proper combination of assistant dopant and emitter molecules realized a “one-way” rapid Förster energy transfer of singlet excitons from TADF molecules to fluorescent emitters, reducing the number of cycles of intersystem crossing (ISC) and reverse ISC in the TADF molecules and resulting in a significant enhancement of operational stability compared to OLEDs with a TADF molecule as the end emitter. In addition, we found that the presence of this rapid energy transfer significantly suppresses singlet-triplet annihilation. Using this finely-tuned rapid triplet-exciton upconversion scheme, OLED performance and lifetime was greatly improved.