Pyrene-Based Blue AIEgen: Enhanced Hole Mobility and Good EL Performance in Solution-Processed OLEDs

Organic luminogens with strong solid-state emission have attracted much attention for their widely practical applications. However, the traditional organic luminogens with planar conformations often suffer from the notorious aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect in solid state for the π–π stacking. Here, a highly efficient blue emitter TPE-4Py with an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect is achieved by combining twisted tetraphenylethene (TPE) core and planar pyrene peripheries. When the emitter was spin-coated in non-doped OLEDs with or without a hole-transporting layer, comparable EL performance was achieved, showing the bifunctional property as both an emitter and a hole-transporting layer. Furthermore, its EL efficiency was promoted in doped OLED, even at a high doping concentration (50%), because of its novel AIE effect, with a current efficiency up to 4.9 cd/A at 484 nm.