Dibenzofuran-based iridium complexes as green emitters: Realizing PhOLEDs with high power efficiency and extremely low efficiency roll-off

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.107990

In this work, a series of novel iridium (III) cyclometallated complexes BF–Ir1, BF–Ir2 and BF–Ir3 is developed by introducing a dibenzofuran moiety into the main ligand. The photophysical, thermal, and electroluminescent properties of these iridium (III)

Full text of DOI:10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.107990

Journal Pre-proof
Dibenzofuran-based iridium complexes as green emitters: Realizing PhOLEDs with
high power efficiency and extremely low efficiency roll-off
Daqi Fang, Yue Sun, Youquan Chen, Tianchen Fu, Muhammad Umair Ali, Yaowu He,
Jingsheng Miao, Chaoyi Yan, Hong Meng
PII:
S0143-7208(19)31989-8
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.107990
DYPI 107990
Reference:
To appear in: Dyes and Pigments
Received Date: 22 August 2019
Revised Date: 9 October 2019
Accepted Date: 21 October 2019
Please cite this article as: Fang D, Sun Y, Chen Y, Fu T, Ali MU, He Y, Miao J, Yan C, Meng H,
Dibenzofuran-based iridium complexes as green emitters: Realizing PhOLEDs with high power
efficiency and extremely low efficiency roll-off, Dyes and Pigments (2019), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.dyepig.2019.107990.
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Dibenzofuran-based Iridium Complexes as Green
Emitters: Realizing PhOLEDs with High Power
Efficiency and Extremely Low Efficiency Roll-off
Daqi Fang, Yue Sun, Youquan Chen, Tianchen Fu, Muhammad Umair Ali,
Yaowu He, Jingsheng Miao, Chaoyi Yan, Hong Meng *
School of Advanced Materials, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China
Abstract
In this work, a series of novel iridium (III) cyclometallated complexes BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3
is developed by introducing a dibenzofuran moiety into the main ligand. The photophysical, thermal,
and electroluminescent properties of these iridium (III) complexes are systematically investigated.
Notably, the phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs) with BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and
BF-Ir3 as the green emitters displayed the maximum EQEs of 15.1%, 23.7% and 21.5%, respectively.
In addition, an impressively high PE up to 96.8 lm W−1 is achieved in the device based on BF-Ir3.
When the luminance reached 1000 and 10000 cd m−2, the corresponding EQE values of BF-Ir3-based
PhOLEDs could be maintained at 20.7% and 18.5%. These results clearly demonstrate that
dibenzofuran-based iridium (III) complexes have great potential for their application as green emitters
in PhOLEDs to realize both high EQE and PE as well as low efficiency roll-off.
Keywords
Dibenzofuran; Power efficiency; Iridium complexes; PhOLEDs
1 Introduction
Since the first demonstration by Ching Tang and Vanslyke in 1987 [1], organic light-emitting diodes
(OLEDs) have attracted great attention due to their excellent advantages, such as great color quality,
low cost, flexibility and streachability [2, 3]. During the past several decades, tremendous endeavors
have been devoted to improve the performance of OLEDs, including efficiency [4-8], stability [9, 10],
lifetime and so forth [11, 12]. So far, OLEDs have been widely applied in mobile display market [13],
large-area color displays and solid-state lighting sources [14].
In order to improve the efficiency of OLEDs, phosphorescence is appraised as a potential process
since it can harvest both singlet and triplet excitons through spin-orbit coupling thereby realizing 100%
of the theoretical internal quantum efficiency (IQE), whereas, fluorescence-based OLEDs exhibit only
25% of the IQE [15]. Several kinds of phosphors have been developed, among them, iridium (III)
complexes are considered as the most outstanding candidates for high performance OLEDs because of
their good stability and high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) [16, 17]. Owing to the

excellent features offered by iridium (III) complexes, they have attained increasing attention in
electroluminescent devices.
Recently, Zheng et al. [18] designed and synthesized green emitting iridium (III) complexes
containing 4-phenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole unit, and demonstrated phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs) with
a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) and a power efficiency (PE) of 31.4% and 57.1 lm W−1,
respectively. Kim et al. [19] reported a blue-emitting PhOLED with an EQE of 31.9% and a PE of 52.9
lm W−1. Though, the high EQEs have been achieved in PhOLEDs, the PE, a crucial criterion for the
evaluation of energy consumption, still needs to be improved for the commercialization of PhOLEDs
[20-22]. Thus, there still remains a challenge to develop a new class of iridium (III) complexes to
realize PhOLEDs with both high EQE and PE.
The charge balance in PhOLEDs is considered as a crucial factor for achieving high performance,
however, electron mobility of electron-transporting materials is far behind the hole mobility of
hole-transporting materials [23, 24]. With regard to iridium (III) complexes, extensive studies have
been conducted for the modification of 2-phenylpyridine (ppy) ligands to improve the electron
transport property during the past few years [25, 26]. The introduction of electron-withdrawing group
has been considered as an effective approach to enhance the electron mobility, which leads to balanced
charge transport in PhOLEDs [18, 27-29].
As a well-known moiety, dibenzofuran group possesses oxygen linkage in the molecular structure,
and has been widely utilized in electron-transport-type host materials due to their high triplet energy
level [30, 31]. Furthermore, many dibenzofuran-based materials exhibit decent performance in OLEDs,
thanks to its good thermal stability and high PLQY [32-35]. For instance, Kido et al. [31] reported a
series of dibenzofuran-based n-type exciplex host materials and realized OLEDs with high-efficiency
and long life time. Zhang et al. [36] introduced dibenzofuran group into thermally activated delayed
fluorescence (TADF) emitters and obtained the maximum EQE of 25.1%.
Herein, inspired by the excellent features of dibenzofuran, we designed and synthesized a series of
iridium (III) complexes by introducing a dibenzofuran unit into the main ligand. The difference of
ancillary ligands resulted in tunable emission colors with peaks in the range of 500−540 nm. All of the
three iridium (III) complexes developed in this study, referred as BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3,
displayed high PLQYs of 0.76−0.80 in doped films. PhOLEDs containing our newly synthesized,
well-optimized iridium (III) complexes as green emitters exhibited the maximum EQE of 23.7% and
impressively high PE of 96.8 lm W−1 with extremely low efficiency roll-off.
2 Experimental Section
2.1 Instruments and Methods
1H NMR spectra were obtained on a Bruker AVANCE 500 MHz NMR spectrometer. UV-Vis
spectra were recorded on a PerkinElmer Lambda 750 spectrophotometer. Fluorescence and

phosphorescence spectra at 298 K and 77 K were collected by a Horiba Fluorolog-3 in
chromatographically pure methylene chloride. Transient photoluminescence decay lifetimes and
absolute quantum yields were also carried out using Horiba Fluorolog-3. Thermo-gravimetric analysis
o
(TGA) was conducted on TA2950 TGA system at a heating rate of 10 C min−1 with a nitrogen flow
rate of 60 cm3 min−1. Cyclic voltammetry measurements were performed using a conventional
three-electrode configuration where a glass carbon was used as the working electrode, a platinum wire
as the counter electrode, Ag/AgNO3 (0.1 M) in CH3CN as the reference electrode, Bu4NPF6 (0.1 M) as
the supporting electrolyte, and Fc/Fc+ as the internal standard. Density functional theory (DFT)
calculations were performed with the PBE0 functional using the SDD basis set for iridium atom and
using the 6-31g(d,p) basis set for the other atoms with Gaussian 09 package.
2.2 Device Fabrication
Prior to the device fabrication, ITO glasses were ultrasonically cleaned with acetone, deionized
water and isopropanol three times. Both organic and metal layers were deposited by vacuum
evaporation under vacuum level lower than 10−6 torr. The thickness of each layer was measured by
quartz crystal monitors and the emitting area of each pixel is 16 mm2. The fabricated PhOLEDs were
characterized by Keithley 2400 with BM-7AS luminance colorimeter in F-Star Optical Measurement
System. The electroluminescence spectra and CIE coordinates were further measured by PR-788
photometer. The forward viewing external quantum efficiency (ηext) was calculated based upon the
electroluminescent performance and electroluminescence spectra.
2.3 General Synthesis of Ligands and Complexes
Scheme 1. Synthetic routes of Iridium Complexes BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2, and BF-Ir3

Scheme 1 depicts the overall synthetic procedures of the ligands and three Ir(III) complexes,
BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2, and BF-Ir3. All reactions were carried out under nitrogen atmosphere, and solvents
were purified by distillation before further use. 4-(2'-pyridyl)dibenzofuran (pyBf) was synthesized by
Suzuki coupling with dibenzofuran-4-boronic acid and 2-bromopyridine. Three Ir(III) complexes,
BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3, were prepared by reacting Ir(III) chloro-bridge intermediates with
N-heterocyclic carbene (nhc), 2-picolinic acid (pic), and acetylacetone (acac), respectively.
Synthesis of 4-(2'-pyridyl)dibenzofuran (pyBf). Dibenzofuran-4-boronic acid (12.0 mmol, 2.54 g),
2-bromopyridine (10.0 mmol, 1.58 g) and aliquat336 (5 drops) were dissolved in toluene (100 mL) and
potassium carbonate aqueous (2.0 M, 15 mL) successively. The mixture solution was degassed by
purging with nitrogen for 15 min, and then Pd(PPh3)4 (0.3 mmol, 0.35 g) was added. After that the
o
solution was heated for 24 h at 105 C under nitrogen. The resulting residue was purified by silica gel
1
column chromatography, which produced a white powder (2.01 g, 82%) [37]. H NMR (300 MHz,
DMSO-d6) δ 8.78 (d, J = 4.6 Hz, 1H), 8.40 (d, J = 8.0 Hz, 1H), 8.23 (q, J = 7.7 Hz, 3H), 8.02 (t, J = 7.7
Hz, 1H), 7.79 (d, J = 8.2 Hz, 1H), 7.55 (q, J = 7.6, 7.0 Hz, 2H), 7.44 (t, J = 6.6 Hz, 2H).
Synthesis of N-heterocyclic Carbene (nhc). A mixture of 1-bromo-3-(trifluoromethyl)benzene (10.0
mmol, 1.17 g) and benzimidazole(10.0 mmol, 2.24 g), K2CO3 (20.0 mmol, 1.38 g), CuI (1.0 mmol,
0.19 g), 18-crown-6 (0.10 g), and DMPU (1,3-dimethyl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2(1H)-pyrimidin- one, 6
o
mL) was heated at 190 C for 24 h in a sealed round-bottom flask under nitrogen. The mixture was
extracted with ethyl acetate (EA), and the intermediate product was obtained by column
chromatography. Then, the intermediate product and the same molar quantity of CH3I were dissolved in
o
15 mL of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and stirred at 80 C for 12 h. The crude product was filtered and
washed with THF and EA, giving the product as white powder (1.62 g, 40%) [38]. 1H NMR (300 MHz,
DMSO-d6) δ 10.20 (s, 1H), 8.26 (s, 1H), 8.17 (dd, J = 7.9, 5.1 Hz, 2H), 8.11 (d, J = 7.6 Hz, 1H), 8.00 (t,
J = 7.9 Hz, 1H), 7.87 (d, J = 7.8 Hz, 1H), 7.83 – 7.70 (m, 2H), 4.18 (s, 3H).
General Procedure for the Synthesis of the Ir Complexes. A round bottom flask was charged with
pyBf (4.0 mmol, 0.98 g), IrCl3•3H2O (1.5 mmol, 0.53 g), 2-ethoxyethanol (36 mL) and H2O (12 mL).
o
After heated at 85 C in nitrogen for 24 h, the mixture was cooled, then directly filtered and washed
with water and methanol. The obtained dimer was dried in vacuum and used for the next step without
further purification. A mixture of the above dimer (0.2 mmol), ancillary ligand (1.0 mmol, nhc, pic or
acac), Na2CO3 (1.0 mmol, Ag2O was used for the synthesis of BF-Ir1) and THF (10 mL) was heated at
100 oC for 24 h in a sealed tube under nitrogen. The mixture was extracted with EA and further purified
by column chromatography to give the yellow solids in the yields of 50-70%.
BF-Ir1. 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ 8.90 (dd, J = 8.9, 1.5 Hz, 1H), 8.82 (d, J = 7.4 Hz, 1H), 8.35
(d, J = 8.4 Hz, 1H), 8.21 (d, J = 5.4 Hz, 1H), 8.08 (s, 1H), 8.02 – 7.95 (m, 3H), 7.91 (d, J = 7.6 Hz, 2H),
7.74 (d, J = 8.2 Hz, 2H), 7.61 – 7.56 (m, 3H), 7.51 – 7.39 (m, 4H), 7.32 (tt, J = 7.5, 1.3 Hz, 2H), 7.12
(td, J = 7.1, 6.5, 1.5 Hz, 1H), 7.05 (ddd, J = 7.5, 5.9, 1.6 Hz, 1H), 7.01 (d, J = 7.5 Hz, 1H), 6.83 (d, J =

7.4 Hz, 1H), 6.60 (d, J = 7.7 Hz, 1H), 6.23 (d, J = 7.7 Hz, 1H), 3.38 (s, 3H). HRMS (ESI), m/z
calculated for C49H30F3IrN4O2 [M + H]+: 957.2028. Found: 957.2019. (0.21 g, 54%)
BF-Ir2. 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ 8.92 (d, J = 7.9 Hz, 1H), 8.85 (d, J = 8.0 Hz, 1H), 8.68 (d, J
= 5.2 Hz, 1H), 8.23 – 8.09 (m, 4H), 7.95 (d, J = 7.6 Hz, 1H), 7.92 (d, J = 7.8 Hz, 1H), 7.78 (d, J = 2.5
Hz, 1H), 7.76 (d, J = 2.5 Hz, 1H), 7.73 (d, J = 5.8 Hz, 1H), 7.69 (d, J = 5.1 Hz, 1H), 7.61 – 7.43 (m,
6H), 7.39 – 7.30 (m, 3H), 6.32 (d, J = 7.9 Hz, 1H), 6.13 (d, J = 7.9 Hz, 1H). HRMS (ESI), m/z
calculated for C40H24IrN3O4 [M + H]+: 804.1474. Found: 804.1511. (0.22 g, 68%)
BF-Ir3. 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ 8.83 (d, J = 8.0 Hz, 2H), 8.57 (d, J = 5.0 Hz, 2H), 8.20 (td, J
= 8.2, 1.5 Hz, 2H), 7.88 (d, J = 7.2 Hz, 2H), 7.74 (d, J = 8.3 Hz, 2H), 7.54 (ddd, J = 7.3, 5.6, 1.5 Hz,
2H), 7.43 (ddd, J = 8.5, 7.3, 1.4 Hz, 2H), 7.37 (d, J = 7.9 Hz, 2H), 7.30 (t, J = 7.5 Hz, 2H), 6.14 (d, J =
7.9 Hz, 2H), 5.33 (s, 1H), 1.75 (s, 6H). HRMS (ESI), m/z calculated for C39H27IrN2O4 [M + Na]+:
803.1498. Found: 803.1538. (0.20 g, 63%)
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Synthesis and Thermal Properties
Scheme 1 shows the synthetic routes and chemical structures of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3. The
main ligand, pyBf, was obtained through Suzuki coupling reaction with dibenzofuran-4-boronic acid
and 2-bromopyridine. Excessive pyBf was first reacted with IrCl3•3H2O to give the chloride-bridged
iridium dimer. The dimer was then reacted with different ancillary ligands to obtain BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2
and BF-Ir3. All these iridium (III) complexes are soluble in common chlorinated hydrocarbons solvent
and could be purified by column chromatography. The chemical structures were unequivocally
confirmed by NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectra (HRMS).
The thermal properties of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 were measured by TGA. The 5% degradation
o
o
temperature (∆T5%) of these compounds was measured to be: 420 C for BF-Ir1, 372 C for BF-Ir2
and 399 oC for BF-Ir3 (Fig. S4). All the complexes possess a ∆T5% higher than 350 oC, indicating good
thermal stability, which is essential for enhancing the stability of PhOLEDs at high processing
temperature.
3.2 Photophysical Properties
Moreover, under photoexcitation, these three compounds exhibit strong emission at 506−536 nm
and an invisible shoulder at 535−567 nm with rather narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM) of
~60 nm (Fig. 1a, lines with symbols). Meanwhile, BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 show emission with the
peaks (shoulder) at 515 nm (544 nm), 533 nm (564 nm) and 536 nm (567 nm), respectively, at 77 K
(Fig. 1b) exhibiting pronounced vibronic structures. The triplet energies for BF-Ir1 (2.62 eV), BF-Ir2
(2.45 eV) and BF-Ir3 (2.55 eV) were determined from the onsets in the spectra recorded at 77 K.

Figure 1. (a) UV-Vis (solid line, in film) and PL spectra (line with symbols, in methylene chloride) of
BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 at room temperature. (b) PL spectra of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 in
methylene chloride at 77K.
Table 1. Photophysical Properties of Ir (III) Complexes BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3
a
b
c
d
e
f
λab
λem
λem
Фem
Фem
τem
krg , knrh ×10-5
(s-1)
HOMOi / LUMOj
(eV)
Complex
(nm)
(nm)
(nm)
(%)
(%)
(µs)
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
311, 361, 405, 443
311, 367, 414, 468
317, 368, 420, 488
506, 535
526, 557
536, 567
515, 544
533, 564
540, 567
46
60
78
76
78
80
3.22
2.90
1.63
1.43 / 1.68
2.07 / 1.38
4.78 / 1.35
−5.16 / −2.43
−5.28 / −2.55
−5.15 / −2.36
a Measured in thin film. b Measured in methylene chloride at room temperature and c 77 K. d Absolute
e
photoluminescence quantum yields measured in methylene chloride and co-deposited films of Ir
f
complex: DMIC-TRZ: DMIC-CZ (1:10:10) using an integrating sphere. Photoluminescence decay
g
h
i
lifetime obtained in methylene chloride. Radiative rate constants. Nonradiative rate constants.
Calculated from cyclic voltammetry analysis. j Calculated from cyclic voltammetry analysis.
To reveal the photoluminescent characteristics of our newly developed green emitters in PhOLED
devices, the doped films of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 in DMIC-TRZ/DMIC-CZ (the host utilized in
our PhOLED devices) were fabricated. All the emission spectra exhibit pure peaks, with the emission
maxima at 511, 533 and 542 nm for BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3, respectively (Fig. S5). The emission
spectra measured in doped films fit well with their corresponding emissions in solutions, indicating
efficient energy transfer from hosts to these three emitters.
To further elucidate the photophysical properties of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3, the
photoluminescence quantum yields (Фem) were measured in methylene chloride by integrating sphere
(Фem = 0.46−0.78, Table 1). For doped films of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 in DMIC-TRZ / DMIC-CZ,
the PLQYs are much higher than their corresponding values measured in solution, with 0.76, 0.78 and
0.80, respectively. The PLQYs of BF-Ir1 and BF-Ir2 in films were substantially higher than those in

solution, indicating stronger interaction with solvents in the solution state for BF-Ir1 and BF-Ir2 than
BF-Ir3. The PLQYs of films better reflect the actual photophysical properties of the devices and all
these three compounds possess high PLQY values in films.
Furthermore, the transient PL decay lifetimes of these three compounds in methylene chloride were
investigated. As shown in Fig. S6, the estimated lifetime (τ) is 3.22 µs for BF-Ir1, 2.90 µs for BF-Ir2
and 1.63 µs for BF-Ir3. Among them, BF-Ir3 exhibits relatively short phosphorescence lifetime, which
can decrease the triplet-triplet annihilation and triplet-polaron annihilation processes, and thus is
beneficial to realize high-performance PhOLEDs with low efficiency roll-off. Moreover, the radiative
rate constant kr and nonradiative rate constant knr can be calculated by the following equations:
kr = Фem / τem
(1)
(2)
Ф
em = kr / (kr + knr)
3.3 Electrochemical Properties and Theoretical Computations
To study the redox properties of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3, cyclic voltammetry was adopted to
reveal the influence of ancillary ligand on frontier orbital energies. Fig. S7 overlays the cyclic
voltammograms of ferrocene, BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3, measured in N,N-Dimethylformamide
(DMF) with 0.1 M Bu4NPF6 electrolyte. Based on the onset of oxidation potential, the highest occupied
molecular orbital (EHOMO) energy level are estimated as −5.16, −5.28 and −5.15 eV (assuming the
ferrocene EHOMO = −4.8 eV vs. vacuum) for BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3. Subsequently, the lowest
unoccupied molecular orbital (ELUMO) energy levels can also be estimated from cyclic voltammetry
data using the equation: ELUMO = [Ered − E(Fc/Fc + 4.8] (eV). All the data of photophysical and
⁺
)
electrochemical properties are summarized in Table 1 and Table S1.
To obtain deep insight into the photophysical and electrochemical properties of these iridium (III)
complexes, theoretical computations of their electronic structures were carried out by density
functional theory (DFT). As depicted in Fig. 2, the HOMO energy levels of the BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and
BF-Ir3 were mainly located on the main ligands (57%, 68% and 60%, respectively) together with the
d-orbitals of the iridium atom (34%, 30% and 34%, respectively), while the LUMO were mostly
distributed over the π* orbitals of the main ligands (97%, 65% and 94%, respectively). A large-scale
distribution of electron clouds on the iridium atom indicates an efficient MLCT transition, resulting in
high PLQY.

Figure 2. Molecular orbital diagram for the HOMO / LUMO levels and the energy levels of BF-Ir1,
BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3.
3.4 OLED Performances
Figure 3. (a) Device energy-level diagram. (b) Device configuration and molecule structures of each
constituent layer.
To evaluate the electroluminescent properties, PhOLEDs were fabricated with a configuration of
ITO / HATCN (5 nm) / Spiro-4-BPF (20 nm) / Spiro-3-BPF (5 nm) / DMIC-TRZ: DMIC-CZ: Ir
complex (10:10:1) (30 nm) / ANT-BIZ (30 nm) / Liq (1 nm) / Al (100 nm). Herein, Spiro-4-BPF
(N-([1,1’-biphenyl]-2-yl)-N-(9,9-dimethyl-9H- fluoren-2-yl)-9,9'-Spirobi[9H-fluoren]-4-amine) and
ANT- BIZ (1-(4-(10-([1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl)anthracen-9-yl)phenyl)-2-ethyl-1H-benzo[d]-imidazole) act

as the hole-transporting material (HTM) and electron-transporting material (ETM), respectively;
Spiro-3-BPF (N-([1,1’-biphenyl]-2-yl)-N-(9,9-
dimethyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl)-9,9'-Spirobi[9H-fluoren]-4-amine) is used as a buffer material (BM) to
facilitate the hole injection from HTL to the emitting layer (EML); and Ir complexes are doped into
DMIC-TRZ
(5-(3'-(4,6-Diphenyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-[1,1'-biphenyl]-3-yl)-7,7-dimethyl-5,7-dihydroindeno[2,1-b]
carbazole)
and
DMIC-CZ
(2-(9-phenyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-5-phenyl-7,7-dimethyl-5,7-dihydro-indeno[2,1-b]carbazole) hosts to
form the EML. The doping ratio of DMIC-TRZ: DMIC-CZ: Ir complex was 10:10:1, i.e. the doping
concentration is about 5 wt% for BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3. The electroluminescent properties,
including current efficiency (CE), PE and EQE versus luminance, current density and luminance versus
voltage, as well as the emission spectra, are shown in Fig.4 and the key parameters are summarized in
Table 2.
Table 2. Summary of the Device Performance
b
Lmax
(cd
Material
Vona (V)
CEc (cd A−1)
PEc (lm W−1)
EQEc (%)
CIEd (x,y)
m−2)
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
Ir(ppy)2acac
a
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
25840
52.1 / 43.9 / 31.1
87.1 / 66.6 / 54.0
79.3 / 76.2 / 68.1
57.1 / 56.6 / 55.1
62.8 / 38.3 / 16.8
91.2 / 58.2 / 31.4
96.8 / 79.8 / 48.6
63.0 / 55.6 / 36.0
15.1 / 12.8 / 9.0
23.7 / 18.2 / 14.7
21.5 / 20.7 / 18.5
15.5 / 15.4 / 15.0
c
(0.30,0.61)
(0.40,0.58)
(0.42,0.57)
(0.34,0.61)
34920
94160
169000
Turn-on voltage at ca. 1.0 cd m−2. The maximum luminance recorded at 8.0 V. In the order of the
b
peak value / at 1000 cd m−2 / at 10000 cd m−2. d CIE coordinates at 1000 cd m−2.
400
300
200
100
0
100000
50000
b)
a)
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
10000
5000
1000
500
100
50
10
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
400
500
600
700
Voltage (V)
Wavelength (nm)
100
50
1000
500
c)
d)
100
50
10
10
5
10
5
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
1
101
1
10
1
102
103
104
100
1000
10000
Luminance (cd m-2)
Luminance (cd m-2)

Figure 4. (a) Electroluminescence spectra recorded at 4.0 V. (b) Current density-voltage curve (left axis)
and luminance-voltage curves (right axis). (c) Current efficiency-luminance curves (left axis) and
power efficiency-luminance curves (right axis). (d) External quantum efficiency-luminance curves.
As shown in Fig. 4 (a), the devices based on BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 exhibit green emissions at
510, 541 and 545 nm, respectively, and the CIE coordinates of BF-Ir1 are (0.30, 0.61), approaching
closely to the s-RGB (standard Red Green Blue) standard for green color (0.30, 0.60). However, the
introduction of the N-heterocyclic carbene on the ancillary ligand resulted in a lower PLQY and thus
led to a slightly declined EQE of BF-Ir1-based device.
Compared to BF-Ir1, the device with BF-Ir2 displayed better Lmax, CE, PE and EQE of 34920 cd
m−2, 87.1 cd A−1, 91.2 lm W−1 and 23.7%, respectively. The device with BF-Ir3 also showed good EL
performance with Lmax of 94160 cd m−2, a peak CE of 79.3 cd A−1, a peak PE of 96.8 lm W−1 and a
maximum EQE of 21.5%. To further figure out the merits of dibenzofuran-based iridium (III)
complexes, Ir(ppy)2acac (bis[2-(2-pyridinyl-N)phenyl-C](acetylacetonato)iridium(III)), a common
green dopant utilized in PhOLEDs, was applied in above mentioned PhOLED structure for comparison
purpose. The maximum EQE and PE exhibited by the device with Ir(ppy)2acac were only 15.5% and
63.0 lm W
PhOLEDs.
⁻
1, respectively (Fig. S8), far behind the corresponding values of BF-Ir2- and BF-Ir3-based
These results indicate that high EQE of above 20% and PE of above 90 lm W−1 can be achieved in
the devices with our newly developed dibenzofuran-based iridium (III) complexes. The high PE value
is a crucial factor for low energy consumption and commercialization of PhOLEDs.
It is noteworthy that the device based on BF-Ir3 displayed high Lmax of almost 105 cd m−2 and
extremely low efficiency roll-off. Low efficiency roll-off values of 3.9% at 1000 cd m−2 and 14.1% at
10000 cd m−2 were achieved, owing to the relatively short lifetime of BF-Ir3. Furthermore, thanks to
the low hole/electron-injecting barriers, all the devices with BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 showed low
turn-on voltage of 2.4 V, which is much lower than that of green PhOLED reported previously [16, 18,
27, 29, 32]. Based on the above results, it is evident that the dibenzofuran-based iridium complexes
demonstrate a great potential as green emitters for PhOLEDs with both high EQE and PE.
4 Conclusions
In summary, a series of dibenzofuran-based iridium (III) complexes, BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 is
successfully designed and synthesized. The characteristics of these complexes as green emitters in
PhOLEDs were systematically investigated. The PhOLEDs with these emitters displayed the maximum
EQE of 15.1% for BF-Ir1, 23.7% for BF-Ir2 and 21.5% for BF-Ir3, respectively, as well as exhibited
a high PE of up to 96.8 lm W−1 for the device with BF-Ir3. When the luminance reached 1000 and
10000 cd m−2, the corresponding EQE values of BF-Ir3-based device could be maintained at 20.7%
and 18.5%. This study suggest that the dibenzofuran-based iridium (III) complexes have great potential

as green emitters to realize PhOLEDs with both high EQE and PE as well as extremely low efficiency
roll-off.
Acknowlegments
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51873002, 51803005), the
NSFC-PSF Project of International Collaboration (51761145101), the Guangdong Key Research Project (No.2019B010924003),
the Guangdong International Science Collaboration Base (2019A050505003), Shenzhen Peacock Plan
(KQTD2014062714543296), Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory (Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission [2016]1592),
the Shenzhen Science and Technology Research Grant (JCYJ20170818085725139, JCYJ20170818090312652).
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Supporting Information
Dibenzofuran-based Iridium Complexes as Green
Emitters: Realizing PhOLEDs with High Power Efficiency
and Extremely Low Efficiency Roll-off
Daqi Fang, Yue Sun, Youquan Chen, Tianchen Fu, Muhammad Umair Ali, Yaowu He,
Jingsheng Miao, Chaoyi Yan, Hong Meng*
School of Advanced Materials, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School,
Shenzhen 518055, China. E-mail: menghong@pku.edu.cn
1.
Figure S1. 1H NMR spectra of BF-Ir1

2.
Figure S2. 1H NMR spectra of BF-Ir2
3.

Figure S3. 1H NMR spectra of BF-Ir3
4.
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Temperature (oC)
Figure S4. TGA curves of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3
5.

Doped Film
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
500
600
Wavelength (nm)
Figure S5. PL spectra of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3 doped in DMIC-TRZ/DMIC-CZ film

6.
500
BF-Ir1
Fitted Curve
τ = 3.22 µs
0
0
0
0
10
10
20
500
BF-Ir2
Fitted Curve
τ = 2.90 µs
τ = 1.63 µs
0
20
500
BF-Ir3
Fitted Curve
0
10
20
Time (µs)
Figure S6. Transition PL decay curves of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3
7.
Fc
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
I
-3
-2
-1
/ V vs.Ag/Ag+
0
1
E
Figure S7. Cyclic voltammetry curves of BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3

8.
Table S1. Electrochemical properties of Ir (III) Complexes BF-Ir1, BF-Ir2 and BF-Ir3
CV
UV
λonset d (nm)
Compounds
EHOMO a (eV)
-5.16
ELUMO b (eV)
Eg c (eV)
2.73
Eg e (eV)
2.54
BF-Ir1
BF-Ir2
BF-Ir3
-2.43
489
501
515
-5.28
-2.55
2.73
2.48
-5.15
-2.36
2.79
2.41
a Estimated from cyclic voltammetry data using equation: EHOMO = [Eox − E(Fc/Fc ) + 4.8] (eV).
+
b Estimated from cyclic voltammetry data using equation: ELUMO = [Ered − E(Fc/Fc ) + 4.8] (eV).
+
c Calculated from EHOMO and ELUMO using equation: Eg = (ELUMO - EHOMO).
d Estimated from absorption spectra of thin films.
e Calculated from the λonset using equation: Eg = 1240 / λonset
.
9.
500
100000
50000
b)
a)
400
300
200
100
0
10000
5000
1000
500
100
50
10
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
400
500
600
700
Voltage (V)
Wavelength (nm)
100
50
1000
500
c)
d)
100
50
10
10
5
10
5
1
102
1
1
103
104
100
1000
10000
Luminance (cd m-2)
Luminance (cd m-2)
Figure S8. (a) Electroluminescence spectrum of Ir(ppy)2acac recorded at 4.0 V. (b) Current
density-voltage curve (left axis) and luminance-voltage curve (right axis). (c) Current
efficiency-luminance curve (left axis) and power efficiency-luminance curve (right axis). (d)
External quantum efficiency-luminance curve.

Dibenzofuran-based Iridium Complexes as Green
Emitters: Realizing PhOLEDs with High Power
Efficiency and Extremely Low Efficiency Roll-off
Daqi Fang, Yue Sun, Youquan Chen, Tianchen Fu, Muhammad Umair Ali,
Yaowu He, Jingsheng Miao, Chaoyi Yan, Hong Meng *
School of Advanced Materials, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China
Highlights
1. A series of novel iridium (III) complexes with dibenzofuran moiety are synthesized through a
facile synthetic route.
2. All of our newly developed iridium (III) complexes displayed great thermal stability and high
photoluminescence quantum yields.
3. PhOLEDs with dibenzofuran-based iridium (III) complexes as green emitters exhibited the
maximum EQE of 23.7% and impressively high PE of 96.7 lm W−1.
4. Moreover, our fabricated PhOLEDs showed extremely low efficiency roll-off at high
luminance.

Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to this work.