Radical-Based Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with Maximum External Quantum Efficiency of 10.6%

A new luminescent radical, tris-2,4,6-trichlorophenylmethyl-1,5-diazarcarbazole (TTM-DACz), was synthesized and characterized. The photoluminescence quantum yield of TTM-DACz in solid 1,3,5-tris­(1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)­benzene matrix film (5 wt %) is as high as 57.0%. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) employing TTM-DACz as the emitter were fabricated. By rational design of the device structure and host–guest doping system, external quantum efficiency (EQE) of up to 10.6% of the optimized device with a red CIE chromaticity of (0.62, 0.36) was obtained, which is among the highest values for red OLEDs using nonphosphorescent materials as the emitters. This work will accelerate the development of luminescent radical materials for high-performance OLEDs.