High-Efficiency Deep-Blue-Phosphorescent Organic
Light-Emitting Diodes Using a Phosphine Oxide and a
Phosphine Sulfide High-Triplet-Energy Host Material
with Bipolar Charge-Transport Properties
By Soon Ok Jeon, Kyoung Soo Yook, Chul Woong Joo, and Jun Yeob Lee*
Blue-phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PHOLEDs)
have been developed for more than 10 years towards use in
active-matrix-type organic light-emitting diodes. There has been
much improvement in quantum efficiency, lifetime, and color
purity although the device performances of the blue PHOLEDs
are not yet good enough for practical applications.
core structure. Phosphine oxide (PPO21) and phosphine sulfide
(PPS21) host materials with the carbazole core structure were
synthesized and evaluated as host materials in the deep-blue
PHOLEDs. A theoretical maximum quantum efficiency over 19%
with a deep-blue CIE coordinate of (0.14,0.16) was demonstrated
in the deep-blue PHOLEDs using the high-triplet-energy host
materials for the first time.
Most research into blue PHOLEDs was focused on the
development of new host and dopant materials.[1–14] The
best-known host material in the blue PHOLEDs is
N,N-dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene (mCP).[1] It has good hole-transport
properties due to a carbazole unit in the backbone structure and a
wide triplet bandgap of 2.90 eV for efficient energy transfer.
However, its electron injection and transport properties are poor
because of the high energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular
orbital (LUMO) of 2.4 eV. Silicone-based wide-triplet-bandgap
host materials were also developed[2–5] and tetraaryl-based silane
materials have been used as host materials in blue PHOLEDs.[2,3]
However, the energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital
(HOMO) of the silane-based host materials is around 7.0 eV,
which is not suitable for hole injection. Therefore, it was difficult
to balance holes and electrons in the light-emitting layer. To
overcome the poor hole injection in the silane-based host
materials, silane compounds with a carbazole moiety in the
molecular structure were evaluated as triplet host materials in
blue PHOLEDs.[4,5] However, the carbazole-based host materials
showed strong hole-transport properties and bipolar transport
behavior was not observed. In addition, phosphine oxide-type
host materials were synthesized, but only sky-blue PHOLEDs
were reported due to the low triplet energy.[6,7] Our group also
reported phosphine oxide-type host materials with a carbazole
moiety in the backbone structure and high efficiency could be
obtained.[14]
The host materials synthesized in this work have
a
9-phenylcarbazole core structure with two phosphine oxide or
phosphine sulfide units. One diphenylphosphine oxide or sulfide
unit was attached to the 3-position of the carbazole unit to control
the HOMO level and the charge transport properties. The other
diphenylphosphine oxide or sulfide unit was connected to the
phenyl group of the 9-phenylcarbazole to manage the electro-
n-transport properties.
The host materials were synthesized by the coupling reaction
of the chlorodiphenylphosphine with 3-bromo-9-(4-bromophenyl)-
carbazole using n-butyllithium followed by oxidation and
sulfonation (Scheme 1). The product was purified by a column
chromatography and it was confirmed with 1H NMR spectro-
scopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), high performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS). The
purity of the host materials was over 99% from HPLC. Physical
properties of the host materials are summarized in Table 1..
The two high-triplet-energy host materials showed high
glass-transition temperature (Tg) above 110 8C due to the two
rigid diphenylphosphine oxide or sulfide groups. The signifi-
cantly higher Tg of the PPS21 compared to PPO21 is due to large
atom size of the sulfur. The two diphenylphosphine oxide or
sulfide units also stabilized the amorphous morphology of the
host materials, and a smooth surface roughness less than 1 nm
was obtained from the evaporated film. The surface morphology
of the evaporated films was kept stable even after thermal
treatment at 80 8C for 1 h because of the rigid molecular structure
and corresponding high Tg.
The HOMO and LUMO levels of the host materials were
measured using cyclic voltametry (CV), and they are summarized
in Table 1. The HOMO/LUMO levels of the PPO21 and PPS21 are
mainly determined by the carbazole backbone structure, and the
diphenylphosphine oxide or sulfide groups shift the HOMO/
LUMO levels through the control of the electron density in the
carbazole core. The HOMO level of the PPO21 was 6.25 eV, which
corresponds to a change of 0.37 eV compared with that of the
phenylcarbazole moiety without any substituent, 5.88 eV.[15] The
LUMO level (2.68 eV) of the PPO21 was also shifted by 0.30 eV by
the diphenylphosphine oxide unit. The electron withdrawing
Although several classes of host materials have been
synthesized, no host materials could show
a theoretical
maximum quantum efficiency in the deep-blue PHOLED with
Commission International De L’Eclairage (CIE) color coordinate
(x þ y) values below 0.30. In this work, we synthesized
bipolar-type high-triplet-energy host materials with a carbazole
[*] Prof. J. Y. Lee, S. O. Jeon, K. S. Yook, C. W. Joo
Department of Polymer Science and Engineering
Dankook University
126, Jukjeon-dong, Suji-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi, 448-701 (Korea)
E-mail: leej17@dankook.ac.kr
DOI: 10.1002/adma.200903321
1872
ß 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Adv. Mater. 2010, 22, 1872–1876