Mechanism of intersystem crossing of thermally activated delayed fluorescence molecules

Fused Dual-Donor Design for Accelerating Reverse Intersystem Crossing Rates of Spatially Folded Through-Space Charge Transfer Emitters

The development of through-space charge transfer (TSCT)-thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) material is defective in relatively low reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) rates (commonly <5 × 105 s-1). Herein, we fuse two 3,6-dimethyl-8H-indolo[3,2,1-de]acridine (IAc) donor units to obtain large planar donors (m-bIAc and p-bIAc) for forming spatially folded A-D|D-A configured TSCT emitters (DCT-1 and DCT-2). The configuration of highly parallel and large-plane intramolecular multiple π-stacking has been achieved. The symmetrical multi-channel charge transfer networks of emitters induce multiple energetically proximal excited states within a small energy range (<0.12 eV) at the lowest excited state, creating additional configuration interaction and spin-orbit coupling channels to accelerate the RISC process. This molecular configuration yields enhanced RISC rates of 6.19 × 105 s-1 for DCT-1 and 1.05 × 106 s-1 for DCT-2. Solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes employing these emitters achieve maximum external quantum efficiencies of 18.9% (DCT-1, 474 nm sky-blue emission) and 23.9% (DCT-2, 498 nm green emission), with attenuated efficiency roll-offs of DCT-2 (12% at 1000 cd m-2). This work provides a critical pathway for manipulating dense excited states to address the bottleneck of the RISC rates while maintaining structural rigidity, promoting further advancement of TSCT-TADF materials.

Room-Temperature Inversion of Phosphorescence and Fluorescence Emission Triggered in Twisted Dimeric Structures Displaying Excitonic Coupling

We here report the design of new thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters based on a dimeric binaphthalimide structure, which induces a small singlet-triplet energy gap. The impact of dimerization and the resulting intramolecular exciton effect are highlighted through comparisons with monomeric variants. Additionally, we studied the influence of the acceptor strength, alongside global electronic effects-such as exciton coupling and charge resonance-induced by the donor/acceptor/acceptor/donor (DAAD) configurations. These effects led to the energetic merging, and even inversion, of the phosphorescence and fluorescence spectra in semi-rigid matrices, including room-temperature polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) thin films, compromising the TADF response initially enhanced in fluidic environments.

Accurate incorporation of hyperfine coupling in diabatic potential models using the effective relativistic coupling by asymptotic representation approach

The accurate treatment of relativistic couplings like spin-orbit (SO) coupling into diabatic potential models is highly desirable. We have been developing the effective relativistic coupling by asymptotic representation (ERCAR) approach to this end. The central idea of ERCAR is the representation of the system using an asymptotic diabatic direct product basis of atom and fragment states. This allows to treat relativistic coupling operators like SO coupling analytically. This idea is extended here to the incorporation of hyperfine (HF) coupling into the diabatic potential model. Hyperfine coupling is due to the magnetic dipole-dipole and the Fermi contact interaction as well as the electric quadrupole interaction. The corresponding operators can be expressed in terms of the angular momentum operators for nuclear spin Î and for total angular momentum Ĵ of the atomic fine structure states. The diabatic basis of an existing ERCAR model is complemented by nuclear spinors and the HF coupling operators are easily evaluated in that basis. Diagonalization of the resulting full diabatic ERCAR model yields the HF energies and states for any molecular geometry of interest. The new method is demonstrated using an existing accurate diabatic potential model for hydrogen iodide (HI) [N. Weike, A. Viel and W. Eisfeld, Hydrogen-iodine scattering: I. Development of an accurate spin-orbit coupled diabatic potential energy model, J. Chem. Phys., 2023, 159, 244119] to see the effects of hyperfine coupling. The HF coupling effect of the 2P3/2 ground state and spin-orbit excited 2P1/2 state of iodine combined with the 2S1/2 ground state of hydrogen are added to the ERCAR Hamiltonian. It is shown that each fine structure state is split by the hyperfine interactions into sets of seven hyperfine states. The fine structure ground state at the global minimum is split into three degenerate groups of hyperfine states with splittings of 152 and 76 MHz.

Intersystem Crossing, Photo-Induced Charge Separation and Regioisomer-Specific Excited State Dynamics in Fully Rigid Spiro Rhodammine-Naphthalene/Anthraquinone Electron Donor-Acceptor Dyads

We prepared a series fully rigid spiro electron donor-acceptor orthogonal dyads, with closed form of rhodamine (Rho) as electron donor and naphthalene (Np)/anthraquinone (AQ) as electron acceptor, to access the long-lived triplet charge separation (3CS) state, via the electron spin control method. We found strong dependency of the photophysical property of the dyads on the amino substitution positions of the Np chromophores in the dyads 1,8-DaNp-Rho and 2,3-DaNp-Rho. Nanosecond transient absorption (ns-TA) spectra show the population of the 3LE state (lifetime: 47 μs) for 2,3-DaNp-Rho, however, long-lived 3CS state was observed (τCS=0.62 μs) for AQ-Rho, with a CS quantum yield of ΦCS=58 %. Based on femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) spectra, spin orbit charge transfer ISC (SOCT-ISC) is proposed to be responsible for the formation of the triplet states. Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectra of AQ-Rho indicate the presence of two states, a 3LE state with zero field splitting (ZFS) D parameter of 1400 MHz and E parameter of -410 MHz, formed via radical pair ISC (RP-ISC) and SOCT-ISC mechanism; and a 3CS state with the electron spin-spin interaction in the regime of spin-correlated radical pair (SCRP).

The Photophysics of Naphthalimide-Phenoselenazine Electron Donor-Acceptor Dyads: Revisiting the Heavy-Atom Effect in Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence

We prepared thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitter dyads, NI-PTZ, NI-PTZ-2Br and NI-PSeZ, with naphthalimide (NI) as electron acceptor and 10H-phenothiazine (PTZ) or 10H-phenoselenazine (PSeZ) as electron donor to study the heavy-atom effect on the intersystem crossing (ISC) and reverse ISC (rISC) in the TADF emitters. The delayed fluorescence lifetimes of the dyads containing heavy atoms (τ D F ${{\tau }_{{\rm D}{\rm F}}}$ =5.9 μs for NI-PSeZ andτ D F ${{\tau }_{{\rm D}{\rm F}}}$ =16.5 μs for NI-PTZ-2Br, respectively) are longer than the heavy atom-free counterpart NI-PTZ (τ D F ${{\tau }_{{\rm D}{\rm F}}}$ =2.0 μs). Nanosecond transient absorption (ns-TA) spectral study and the time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectra show the presence of both 3LE and 3CS states. These findings represent solid experimental evidences for the spin-vibronic coupling mechanism of TADF. Moreover, the ns-TA spectra show that the heavy atoms don't have a significant effect since the lifetime of the triplet transient species (1.3 μs for NI-PTZ) is not shortened in their presence (4.5 μs for NI-PSeZ and 5.3 μs for NI-PTZ-2Br). These results show that the previously claimed heavy-atom effect on rISC and TADF is not a universal principle. The femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) spectra of the compounds indicate the occurrence of fast charge separation within 1-2 ps, and the charge recombination is slow (>4 ns).

Time-resolved transient optical and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopic studies of electron donor-acceptor thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters based on naphthalimide-phenothiazine dyads

The photophysics of naphthalimide (NI)-phenothiazine (PTZ) dyads were investigated as electron donor-acceptor (D-A) thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters. Femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) spectra show that the photophysical processes in non-polar solvents are in singlet localized state (1LE, τ = 0.8 ps) → Franck-Condon singlet charge separation state (1CS, τ = 7.8 ps) → 1CS state (τ = 2.2 ns) → triplet state (3LE, τ = 16 μs). The 3LE state is formed via the spin-orbit charge transfer-intersystem crossing (SOCT-ISC) mechanism rather than the spin-orbit (SO)-ISC mechanism. In a polar solvent, the CS state has a much lower energy than the 3LE state; thus, the 3LE state is absent from the photophysical processes and no TADF was observed. Moreover, we found that the delayed fluorescence lifetime is related to the low-lying triplet state (3LE or 3CS states). When the 3CS state is the low-lying triplet state, the TADF lifetime is shorter than that of the 3LE state as the low-lying triplet state. In the time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectra, both 3LE (zero field splitting parameter D = 2250 MHz, E = -150 MHz) and 3CS (D = 430 MHz, E = 0 MHz) states were observed. It is noteworthy that the electron spin polarization (ESP) phase pattern of the 3CS state was inverted at longer delay times as a consequence of the selective transition between the 3LE and 3CS states and a faster decay of one sublevel of the 3CS state. These results are strong and direct experimental evidence for the spin-vibronic coupling mechanism of TADF.

Charge Transfer Dynamics in Supramolecular Tessellations Composed of Aromatic Donors and Chiral Tris(naphthalenediimide) Triangular Acceptors

Understanding charge transfer (CT) dynamics in donor-acceptor (D-A) cocrystals is important for the development of efficient organic photovoltaic and electronic materials. This study explores the photogenerated CT states of supramolecular tessellations formed by cocrystallizing a chiral tris(naphthalenediimide) triangular prism (-)-NDI-Δ with pyrene, perylene, and peri-xanthenoxanthene electron donors. By manipulating crystallization conditions, one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) cocrystals with distinct structural motifs and morphologies are achieved. Femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption microscopies and time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy were employed to elucidate the CT state dynamics. Our findings reveal that the CT state lifetimes are lengthened in the 2D cocrystals relative to the 1D cocrystals, which is attributable to the symmetry and molecular packing differences between them that modulate the CT interactions. This work highlights the potential of using preorganized covalent multisite charge carriers as donors or acceptors in cocrystals as a strategy for engineering structures for advanced multifunctional materials with tunable CT properties.

Multiple Pathways in the Triplet States Population for a Naphthalenediimide-C60 Dyad

The link of an antenna dye with an electron spin converter, in this case naphthalenediimide and C60, produces a system with a rich photophysics including the detection of more than one triplet state on the long timescale (tens of μs). Beside the use of optical spectroscopies in the ns and in the fs time scale, we used time-resolved Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (TREPR) to study the system evolution following photoexcitation. TREPR keeps track of the formation path of the triplet states through specific spin polarization patterns observed in the spectra. The flexibility of the linker and solvent polarity play a role in favouring either electron transfer or energy transfer processes.

Photophysics and photochemistry of thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters based on the multiple resonance effect: transient optical and electron paramagnetic resonance studies

The photochemistry of two representative thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters based on the multiple resonance effect (MRE) (DABNA-1 and DtBuCzB) was studied. No significant TADF was observed in fluid solution, although the compounds have a long-lived triplet state (ca. 30 μs). We found that these planar boron molecules bind with Lewis bases, e.g., 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) or an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC). A new blue-shifted absorption band centered at 368 nm was observed for DtBuCzB upon formation of the adduct; however, the fluorescence of the adduct is the same as that of the free DtBuCzB. We propose that photo-dissociation occurs for the DtBuCzB-DMAP adduct, which is confirmed by femtosecond transient absorption spectra, implying that fluorescence originates from DtBuCzB produced by photo-dissociation; the subsequent in situ re-binding was observed with nanosecdon transient absorption spectroscopy. No photo-dissociation was observed for the NHC adduct. Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectra show that the triplet states of DABNA-1 and DtBuCzB have similar zero field splitting (ZFS) parameters (D = 1450 MHz). Theoretical studies show that the slow ISC is due to small SOC and weak Herzberg-Teller coupling, although the S1/T1 energy gap is small (0.14 eV), which rationalizes the lack of TADF.

Synthetic progress of organic thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters via C-H activation and functionalization

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters have become increasingly prominent due to their promising applications across various fields, prompting a continuous demand for developing reliable synthetic methods to access them. This review aims to highlight the progress made in the last decade in synthesizing organic TADF compounds through C-H bond activation and functionalization. The review begins with a brief introduction to the basic features and design principles of TADF emitters. It then provides an overview of the advantages and concise development of C-H bond transformations in constructing TADF emitters. Subsequently, it summarizes both transition-metal-catalyzed and non-transition-metal-promoted C-H bond transformations used for the synthesis of TADF emitters. Finally, the review gives an outlook on further challenges and potential directions in this field.

Ultrafast photophysics of an orange-red thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter: the role of external structural restraint

The application of thermally activated delay fluorescence (TADF) emitters in the orange-red regime usually suffers from the fast non-radiative decay of emissive singlet states (kSNR), leading to low emitting efficiency in corresponding organic light-emitting diode (OLED) devices. Although kSNR has been quantitatively described by energy gap law, how ultrafast molecular motions are associated with the kSNR of TADF emitters remains largely unknown, which limits the development of new strategies for improving the emitting efficiency of corresponding OLED devices. In this work, we employed two commercial TADF emitters (TDBA-Ac and PzTDBA) as a model system and attempted to clarify the relationship between ultrafast excited-state structural relaxation (ES-SR) and kSNR. Spectroscopic and theoretical investigations indicated that S1/S0 ES-SR is directly associated with promoting vibrational modes, which are considerably involved in electronic-vibrational coupling through the Huang-Rhys factor, while kSNR is largely affected by the reorganization energy of the promoting modes. By restraining S1/S0 ES-SR in doping films, the kSNR of TADF emitters can be greatly reduced, resulting in high emitting efficiency. Therefore, by establishing the connection among S1/S0 ES-SR, promoting modes and kSNR of TADF emitters, our work clarified the key role of external structural restraint for achieving high emitting efficiency in TADF-based OLED devices.

Reverse intersystem crossing mechanisms in doped triangulenes

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) has emerged as one of the most promising strategies in the quest for organic light emitting diodes with optimal performance. This computational study dissects the mechanistic intricacies of the central photophysical step, reverse intersystem crossing (rISC) in N and B doped triangulenes as potential multi-resonance TADF compounds. Optimal molecular patterns conducive to efficient rISC, encompassing dopant atom size, number, and distribution, are identified. Additionally, we assess various electronic structure methods for characterizing TADF-relevant molecular systems. The findings identify the distinct role of the direct and mediated mechanisms in rISC, and provide insights into the design of advanced TADF chromophores for next-generation OLED technology.

Long-Lived Charge-Separated State in Naphthalimide-Phenothiazine Compact Electron Donor-Acceptor Dyads: Effect of Molecular Conformation Restriction and Solvent Polarity

To study the charge separation (CS) and long-lived CS state, we prepared a series of dyads based on naphthalimide (NI, electron acceptor) and phenothiazine (PTZ, electron donor), with an intervening phenyl linker attached on the N-position of both moieties. The purpose is to exploit the electron spin control effect to prolong the CS-state lifetime by formation of the 3CS state, instead of the ordinary 1CS state, the spin-correlated radical pair (SCRP), or the free ion pairs. The electronic coupling magnitude is tuned by conformational restriction exerted by the methyl groups on the phenyl linker. Differently from the previously reported NI-PTZ analogues containing long and flexible linkers, we observed a significant CS emission band centered at ca. 600 nm and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) with a lifetime of 13.8 ns (population ratio: 42%)/321.6 μs (56%). Nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy indicates that in cyclohexane (CHX), only the 3NI* state was observed (lifetime τ = 274.7 μs), in acetonitrile (ACN), only the CS state was observed (τ = 1.4 μs), whereas in a solvent with intermediate polarity, such as toluene (TOL), both the 3NI* (shorter-lived) and the CS states were observed. Observation of the long-lived CS state in ACN, yet lack of TADF, confirms the spin-vibronic coupling theoretical model of TADF. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy indicates that charge separation occurs in both nonpolar and polar solvents, with time constants ranging from less than 1 ps in ACN to ca. 60 ps in CHX. Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectra indicate the existence of the 3NI* and CS states for the dyads upon photoexcitation. The electron spin-spin dipole interaction magnitude of the radical anion and cation of the CS state is intermediate between that of a typical SCRP and a 3CS state, suggesting that the long CS-state lifetime is partially due to the electron spin control effect.

The effect of dark states on the intersystem crossing and thermally activated delayed fluorescence of naphthalimide-phenothiazine dyads

A series of 1,8-naphthalimide (NI)-phenothiazine (PTZ) electron donor-acceptor dyads were prepared to study the thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) properties of the dyads, from a point of view of detection of the various transient species. The photophysical properties of the dyads were tuned by changing the electron-donating and the electron-withdrawing capability of the PTZ and NI moieties, respectively, by oxidation of the PTZ unit, or by using different aryl substituents attached to the NI unit. This tuning effect was manifested in the UV-vis absorption and fluorescence emission spectra, e.g., in the change of the charge transfer absorption bands. TADF was observed for the dyads containing the native PTZ unit, and the prompt and delayed fluorescence lifetimes changed with different aryl substituents on the imide part. In polar solvents, no TADF was observed. For the dyads with the PTZ unit oxidized, no TADF was observed as well. Femtosecond transient absorption spectra showed that the charge separation takes ca. 0.6 ps, and admixtures of locally excited (3LE) state and charge separated (1CS/3CS) states formed (in n-hexane). The subsequent charge recombination from the 1CS state takes ca. 7.92 ns. Upon oxidation of the PTZ unit, the beginning of charge separation is at 178 fs and formation of 3LE state takes 4.53 ns. Nanosecond transient absorption (ns-TA) spectra showed that both 3CS and 3LE states were observed for the dyads showing TADF, whereas only 3LE or 3CS states were observed for the systems lacking TADF. This is a rare but unambiguous experimental evidence that the spin-vibronic coupling of 3CS/3LE states is crucial for TADF. Without the mediating effect of the 3LE state, no TADF is resulted, even if the long-lived 3CS state is populated (lifetime τCS ≈ 140 ns). This experimental result confirms the 3CS → 1CS reverse intersystem crossing (rISC) is slow, without coupling with an approximate 3LE state. These studies are useful for an in-depth understanding of the photophysical mechanisms of the TADF emitters, as well as for molecular structure design of new electron donor-acceptor TADF emitters.

Computational tools for the simulation and analysis of spin-polarized EPR spectra

The EPR spectra of paramagnetic species induced by photoexcitation typically exhibit enhanced absorptive and emissive features resulting from sublevel populations that differ from thermal equilibrium. The populations and the resulting spin polarization of the spectra are dictated by the selectivity of the photophysical process generating the observed state. Simulation of the spin-polarized EPR spectra is crucial in the characterization of both the dynamics of formation of the photoexcited state as well as its electronic and structural properties. EasySpin, the simulation toolbox for EPR spectroscopy, now includes extended support for the simulation of the EPR spectra of spin-polarized states of arbitrary spin multiplicity and formed by a variety of different mechanisms, including photoexcited triplet states populated by intersystem crossing, charge recombination or spin polarization transfer, spin-correlated radical pairs created by photoinduced electron transfer, triplet pairs formed by singlet fission and multiplet states arising from photoexcitation in systems containing chromophores and stable radicals. In this paper, we highlight EasySpin's capabilities for the simulation of spin-polarized EPR spectra on the basis of illustrative examples from the literature in a variety of fields ranging across chemistry, biology, material science and quantum information science.

Detection of the Dark States in Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) Process of Electron Donor-Acceptor Dyads: Insights from Optical Transient Absorption Spectroscopy

The photophysical processes involved in the electron donor-acceptor thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters are complicated and controversial. The recent consensus is that at least three states are involved, i. e. the singlet charge transfer state (¹ CT), the triplet localized excited state (³ LE) and the triplet CT state (³ CT). It is clear the very often used steady state and time-resolved luminescence spectroscopic methods are unable to present direct evidence for the dark states, i. e. the ³ LE and ³ CT states, as well as the interconversion of these states. Concerning this aspect, the femtosecond-nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopic methods are in particular interests. Both the emissive state and the dark state can be detected in these spectra, and interconversion of the states involved in TADF process can be also revealed. This review article focuses on the recent development of using the transient absorption spectra to study the photophysics of the TADF emitters.

Combining PD-L1 blockade with immunogenic cell death induced by AIE photosensitizer to improve antitumor immunity

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is considered an effective death mode to trigger immune response. However, the currently available efficient ICD inducers are quite limited. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is known as the precursor of ICD, which can be directly triggered by reactive oxygen species in situ. Herein, a novel photosensitizer (α-Th-TPA-PIO) based on phosphindole oxide, featuring aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is designed and prepared, which possesses good ability of hydroxyl radicals (HO^•) generation. Besides, α-Th-TPA-PIO can selectively accumulate in ER and trigger ER stress under white light irradiation, further leading to effective ICD. Combining with anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (anti-PD-L1), the synergistic effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and immune checkpoint blockade can achieve a significantly enhanced inhibition effect on the growth of tumors and simultaneously provoke a systemic antitumor immune response. Notably, by adopting this therapeutic strategy to bilateral and metastatic tumor models, the growth of both primary and distant subcutaneous tumors can be successfully suppressed, and metastatic tumor can also be inhibited to some degree. Taken together, this work not only provides a novel ICD photoinducer based on PDT, but also brings about a useful immunomodulatory strategy to realize superior antitumor effect.

Naphthalimide-phenothiazine dyads: effect of conformational flexibility and matching of the energy of the charge-transfer state and the localized triplet excited state on the thermally activated delayed fluorescence

In order to investigate the joint influence of the conformation flexibility and the matching of the energies of the charge-transfer (CT) and the localized triplet excited (3LE) states on the thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) in electron donor-acceptor molecules, a series of compact electron donor-acceptor dyads and a triad were prepared, with naphthalimide (NI) as electron acceptor and phenothiazine (PTZ) as electron donor. The NI and PTZ moieties are either directly connected at the 3-position of NI and the N-position of the PTZ moiety via a C-N single bond, or they are linked through a phenyl group. The tuning of the energy order of the CT and LE states is achieved by oxidation of the PTZ unit into the corresponding sulfoxide, whereas conformation restriction is imposed by introducing ortho-methyl substituents on the phenyl linker, so that the coupling magnitude between the CT and the 3LE states can be controlled. The singlet oxygen quantum yield (ΦΔ) of NI-PTZ is moderate in n-hexane (HEX, ΦΔ = 19%). TADF was observed for the dyads, the biexponential luminescence lifetime are 16.0 ns (99.9%)/14.4 μs (0.1%) for the dyad and 7.2 ns (99.6%)/2.0 μs (0.4%) for the triad. Triplet state was observed in the nanosecond transient absorption spectra with lifetimes in the 4-48 μs range. Computational investigations show that the orthogonal electron donor-acceptor molecular structure is beneficial for TADF. These calculations indicate small energetic difference between the 3LE and 3CT states, which are helpful for interpreting the ns-TA spectra and the origins of TADF in NI-PTZ, which is ultimately due to the small energetic difference between the 3LE and 3CT states. Conversely, NI-PTZ-O, which has a higher CT state and bears a much more stabilized 3LE state, does not show TADF.

Mechanism of high photoluminescence quantum yield of melem

To produce high-efficiency organic light-emitting diodes, materials that exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) are attracting attention as alternatives to phosphorescent materials containing heavy metallic elements. Melem, a small molecule with a heptazine backbone composed only of nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen, is known to emit light in the near-ultraviolet region and exhibit high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield and delayed fluorescence. However, the mechanism underlying the high PL quantum yield remains unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the mechanism of the high PL quantum yield of melem by examining its optical properties in detail. When the amount of dissolved oxygen in the melem solution was increased by bubbling oxygen through it, the PL quantum yield and emission lifetime decreased significantly, indicating that the triplet state was involved in the light-emission mechanism. Furthermore, the temperature dependence of the PL intensity of melem was investigated; the PL intensity decreased with decreasing temperature, indicating that it increases thermally. The experimental results show that melem is a TADF material that produces an extremely high PL quantum yield by upconversion from the triplet to the singlet excited state.

Computational descriptor analysis on excited state behaviours of a series of TADF and non-TADF compounds

The thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) behaviours of seventeen organic TADF emitters and two non-TADF chromophores bearing various donor and acceptor moieties were investigated, focusing on their torsion angles, singlet-triplet gap (ΔE_ST), spin orbit couplings (SOC) and topological Φ_S index. Electronic structure calculations were performed in the framework of the Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA) allowing the possible reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) pathways to be characterized. The electronic density reorganization of the excited states was checked also with respect to the different exchange-correlation functional and absorption spectra were obtained by considering vibrational and dynamical effects through Wigner sampling of the ground state equilibrium regions. Examining all the parameters obtained in our computational study, we rationalized the influence of electron-donating and electron-accepting groups and the effects of geometrical factors, especially torsion angles, on a wide class of diverse compounds ultimately providing an easy and computationally effective protocol to assess TADF efficiencies.

Multi-conformational Luminescence and Phosphorescence of Few Phenazine 1,2,3-triazole Molecules

Dropcast films produced from blends solutions of phenazine 1,2,3-triazole molecules in very low concentrations in a 1,3-Bis (N-carbazolyl) benzene (mCP) matrix were investigated at room tem-perature. The mCP acts as an optically inert matrix, having no influence on the emission properties of the guest molecules. Its conductive properties ensure the blend films as completely organic active layers. The fluorescent and phosphorescent emissions of the guest molecules in blue, green, red and also in white are relatively intense, without the need to mix different organic materials. The excitation of the system occurs directly by the incident laser beam on the films. The steady-state spectroscopy for the blue monomer and green dimer singlet fluorescence emissions were investigated. The analysis of their temporal decays was done using a different approach based on the Exponentially Modified Gaussian function. The phosphorescent emissions of the triplet steady-states, in the orange or in the red wavelength regions, were observed to be correlated, respectively, to the formation of guest monomers or to the guest dimers singlet states.

The effect of heavy atoms replacement sites on the luminescent ways of D-A-D type diphenyl sulfone molecules: Thermally activated delayed fluorescence and phosphorescence

To obtain efficient pure organic thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials, introducing non-metal heavy atoms is the common molecular design strategy, enhancing the intrinsically weak spin-orbit coupling (SOC) between singlet and triplet excited states by heavy-atom effect. However, the effect of heavy atom replacement sites is rarely explored. Herein, two series of molecules are investigated on the basis of different heavy atoms replacement sites to reveal the inherent structure-property relationships. The results show that DMSeC-DPS, which O is replaced with Se in periphery of donor units, could exhibit enhanced TADF performance. Because (i) sufficiently small singlet-triplet states energy gap (ΔE_ST) and enhanced SOC as well as mixed CT/LE character in T₁ state could facilitate reverse intersystem crossing process, and (ii) non-radiative consumption are decreased for S₁→S₀ transition. Additionally, replacement of As at the connection site between donor and acceptor units folds evidently the geometry, leading to much larger ΔE_ST and enhanced exponentially SOC between T₁ and S₀ state due to the great participation of heavy atoms of the frontier molecules orbitals and heavy-atom effect. The pure LE character leads to relative stability and slight non-radiative consumption in T₁ state. The luminescent way of DMOC-As-DPS would be transformed to phosphorescence. This work provides updated theoretical perspective for the effect of heavy atoms replacement sites and proposes a design strategy for the utilization of non-metal heavy atoms in efficiency organic lighting emitting diodes.

Long-lived spin-polarized intermolecular exciplex states in thermally activated delayed fluorescence-based organic light-emitting diodes

Spin-spin interactions in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) are pivotal because radiative recombination is largely determined by triplet-to-singlet conversion, also called reverse intersystem crossing (RISC). To explore the underlying process, we apply a spin-resonance spectral hole-burning technique to probe electroluminescence. We find that the triplet exciplex states in OLEDs are highly spin-polarized and show that these states can be decoupled from the heterogeneous nuclear environment as a source of spin dephasing and can even be coherently manipulated on a spin-spin relaxation time scale T₂* of 30 ns. Crucially, we obtain the characteristic triplet exciplex spin-lattice relaxation time T₁ in the range of 50 μs, which far exceeds the RISC time. We conclude that slow spin relaxation rather than RISC is an efficiency-limiting step for intermolecular donor:acceptor systems. Finding TADF emitters with faster spin relaxation will benefit this type of TADF OLEDs.

Multifunctional derivatives of pyrimidine-5-carbonitrile and differently substituted carbazoles for doping-free sky-blue OLEDs and luminescent sensors of oxygen

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Pyrimidine-5-carbonitrile-based compounds with efficient TADF exceeding reverse intersystem crossing rates of 10⁶ s⁻¹.

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AIEE properties for the designed compounds allowing to reach PLQYs up to 50% in solid state.

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Bipolar charge-transporting properties showing hole mobility of 1.6 × 10^-4 cm²/V·s and electron mobility of 1.37 × 10^-5 cm²/V·s.

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Non-doped sky-blue OLED with external quantum efficiency of 12.8%.

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Oxygen probes with fast response, high sensitivity and good stability.

Introduction

Evolution of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) reached the point, which allows to obtain maximum internal quantum efficiency of 100% partly using heavy-metal-free emitters exhibiting thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). Such emitters are also predictively perfect candidates for new generation of optical sensors since triplet harvesting can be sensitive to different analytes (at least to oxygen). Although many organic TADF emitters have been reported so far as OLED emitters, the investigation of materials suitable for both OLEDs and optical sensors remains extremely rare.

Objectives

Aiming to achieve high photoluminescence quantum yields in solid-state and triplet harvesting abilities of organic semiconductors with efficient bipolar charge transport required for application in both blue OLEDs and optical sensors, symmetrical donor–acceptor-donor organic emitters containing pyrimidine-5-carbonitrile electron-withdrawing scaffold and carbazole, tert-butylcarbazole and methoxy carbazole donor moieties were designed, synthesized and investigated as the main objectives of this study.

Methods

New compounds were tested by many experimental methods including optical and photoelectron spectroscopy, time of flight technique, electrochemistry and thermal analyses.

Results

Demonstrating advantages of the molecular design, the synthesized emitters exhibited sky-blue efficient TADF with reverse intersystem crossing rates exceeding 10⁶ s⁻¹, aggregation-induced emission enhancement with photoluminescence quantum yields in solid state exceeding 50%, hole and electron transporting properties with charge mobilities exceeding 10^-4 cm²/V·s, glass-forming properties with glass transition temperatures reaching 177 °C. Sky-blue OLEDs with non-doped light-emitting layers of the synthesized emitter showed maximum external efficiency of 12.8% while the doped device with the same emitter exhibited maximum external efficiency of 14%. The synthesized emitters were also used as oxygen probes for optical sensors with oxygen sensitivity estimated by the Stern-Volmer constant of 3.24·10^-5 ppm⁻¹.

Conclusion

The developed bipolar TADF emitters with pyrimidine-5-carbonitrile and carbazole moieties showed effective applicability in both blue OLEDs and optical sensors.

Spin-Orbit Charge-Transfer Intersystem Crossing of Compact Naphthalenediimide-Carbazole Electron-Donor-Acceptor Triads

Compact electron donor-acceptor triads based on carbazole (Cz) and naphthalenediimide (NDI) were prepared to study the spin-orbit charge-transfer intersystem crossing (SOCT-ISC). By variation of the molecular conformation and electron-donating ability of the carbazole moieties, the electronic coupling between the two units was tuned, and as a result charge-transfer (CT) absorption bands with different magnitudes were observed (ε = 4000-18 000 M^-1 cm^-1). Interestingly, the triads with NDI attached at the 3-C position or with a phenyl spacer at the N position of the Cz moiety, thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) was observed. Femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) spectroscopy indicated fast electron transfer (0.8-1.5 ps) from the Cz to NDI unit, followed by population of the triplet state (150-600 ps). Long-lived triplet states (up to τ_T = 45-50 μs) were observed for the triads. The solvent-polarity-dependent singlet-oxygen quantum yield (Φ_Δ) is 0-26%. Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectral study of TADF molecules indicated the presence of the ³CT state for NDI-Cz-Ph (zero-field-splitting parameter D = 21 G) and an ³LE state for NDI-Ph-Cz (D = 586 G). The triads were used as triplet photosensitizers in triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion by excitation into the CT absorption band; the upconversion quantum yield was Φ_UC = 8.2%, and there was a large anti-Stokes shift of 0.55 eV. Spatially confined photoexcitation is achieved with the upconversion using focusing laser beam excitation, and not the normally used collimated laser beam, i.e., the upconversion was only observed at the focal point of the laser beam. Photo-driven intermolecular electron transfer was demonstrated with reversible formation of the NDI^-• radical anion in the presence of the sacrificial electron donor triethanolamine.

Intersystem Crossing in Boron-Based Donor-Spiro-Acceptor Organic Chromophore: A Detailed Theoretical Study

Intersystem crossing and reverse intersystem crossing (rISC) processes were investigated in a boron-based donor-spiro-acceptor organic chromophore which shows thermally activated delayed fluorescence. Due to the perpendicular arrangement between donor and acceptor moieties, the HOMO and the LUMO are spatially separated, and the compound shows charge transfer (CT) transitions. We found both S₁ and T₁ excited states are CT in nature (i.e., electron and hole wave functions are localized on acceptor and donor units, respectively) and T₂, which is higher in energy than S₁ and T₁, is locally excited in nature (i.e., both electron and hole wave functions are localized on an acceptor unit). Because of the same nature of excitation (i.e., CT here), the spin-orbit coupling matrix element between S₁ and T₁ is very low and insignificant exciton conversion occurs from the T₁ state to the S₁ state (and vice versa). Our combined time-dependent density functional theory and quantum dynamics simulation shows that the rISC process from the T₁ state to the S₁ state can be enhanced by the presence of a nearby local excited triplet state (i.e., T₂ state here). A smaller gap between the T₁ and T₂ states efficiently establishes the rISC route.

Electron spin dynamics in excited state photochemistry: recent development in the study of intersystem crossing and charge transfer in organic compounds

Electron spin dynamics are crucial to photochemical and photophysical processes. However, to a large extent, they are neglected in routine photochemistry studies. Herein, we summarized the recent developments of electron spin dynamics in organic molecular systems. The electron-spin selective intersystem crossing (ISC) as well as charge separation (CS) and charge recombination (CR) of the organic molecular system are discussed, including ISC of the compounds with twisted π-conjugation frameworks and CR-induced ISC in compact orthogonal electron donor-acceptor dyads. We found that the electron spin polarization (ESP) of the triplet state formed in these systems is highly dependent on the molecular structure and geometry. The zero-field-splitting (ZFS) D and E parameters of the triplet state of series chromophores determined with time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectroscopy are presented. Some unanswered questions in related areas are raised, which may inspire further theoretical investigations. The examples demonstrate that the study of electron spin dynamics is not only important in fundamental photochemistry to attain in-depth understanding of the ISC and the charge transfer processes, but is also useful for designing new efficient organic molecular materials for applications including photodynamic therapy, organic light-emitting diodes, and photon upconversion.

Electron spin resonance resolves intermediate triplet states in delayed fluorescence

Molecular organic fluorophores are currently used in organic light-emitting diodes, though non-emissive triplet excitons generated in devices incorporating conventional fluorophores limit the efficiency. This limit can be overcome in materials that have intramolecular charge-transfer excitonic states and associated small singlet-triplet energy separations; triplets can then be converted to emissive singlet excitons resulting in efficient delayed fluorescence. However, the mechanistic details of the spin interconversion have not yet been fully resolved. We report transient electron spin resonance studies that allow direct probing of the spin conversion in a series of delayed fluorescence fluorophores with varying energy gaps between local excitation and charge-transfer triplet states. The observation of distinct triplet signals, unusual in transient electron spin resonance, suggests that multiple triplet states mediate the photophysics for efficient light emission in delayed fluorescence emitters. We reveal that as the energy separation between local excitation and charge-transfer triplet states decreases, spin interconversion changes from a direct, singlet-triplet mechanism to an indirect mechanism involving intermediate states.

Tetrabenzo[a,c]phenazine Backbone for Highly Efficient Orange-Red Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence with Completely Horizontal Molecular Orientation

Three thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules, namely PQ1, PQ2, and PQ3, are composed of electron-accepting (A) tetrabenzo[a,c]phenazine (TBPZ) and electron-donating (D) phenoxazine (PXZ) units are designed and characterized. The combined effects of planar acceptor manipulation and high steric hindrance between D and A units endow high molecular rigidity that suppresses nonradiative decay of the excitons with improved photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs). Particularly, the well-aligned excited states involving a singlet and a triplet charge-transfer excited states and a localized excited triplet state in PQ3 enhances the reverse intersystem crossing rate constant (k_RISC ) with a short delay lifetime (τ_d ). The orange-red OLED based on PQ3 displays a maximum external EL quantum efficiency (EQE) of 27.4 % with a well-suppressed EL efficiency roll-off owing to a completely horizontal orientation of the transition dipole moment in the film state.

Ambient Room Temperature Phosphorescence and Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence from a Core-Substituted Pyromellitic Diimide Derivative

Triplet harvesting under ambient conditions plays a crucial role in improving the luminescence efficiency of purely organic molecular systems. This requires elegant molecular designs that can harvest triplets either via room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) or by thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). In this context, here we report a donor core-substituted pyromellitic diimide (acceptor) derivative as an efficient charge-transfer molecular design from the arylene diimide family as a triplet emitter. Solution-processed thin films of carbazole-substituted CzPhPmDI display both RTP- and TADF-mediated twin emission with a long lifetime and high efficiency under ambient conditions. The present study not only sheds light on the fundamental photophysical process involved in the triplet harvesting of donor-acceptor organic systems, but also opens new avenues in exploring an arylene diimide class of molecules as potential organic light-emitting materials.

Understanding and Controlling Intersystem Crossing in Molecules

This review article focuses on the understanding of intersystem crossing (ISC) in molecules. It addresses readers who are interested in the phenomenon of intercombination transitions between states of different electron spin multiplicities but are not familiar with relativistic quantum chemistry. Among the spin-dependent interaction terms that enable a crossover between states of different electron spin multiplicities, spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is by far the most important. If SOC is small or vanishes by symmetry, ISC can proceed by electronic spin-spin coupling (SSC) or hyperfine interaction (HFI). Although this review discusses SSC- and HFI-based ISC, the emphasis is on SOC-based ISC. In addition to laying the theoretical foundations for the understanding of ISC, the review elaborates on the qualitative rules for estimating transition probabilities. Research on the mechanisms of ISC has experienced a major revival in recent years owing to its importance in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Exemplified by challenging case studies, chemical substitution and solvent environment effects are discussed with the aim of helping the reader to understand and thereby get a handle on the factors that steer the efficiency of ISC.

Vibrationally Assisted Direct Intersystem Crossing between the Same Charge-Transfer States for Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence: Analysis by Marcus-Hush Theory Including Reorganization Energy

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) has recently become an extensively investigated phenomenon due to its high potential for application in organic optoelectronics. Currently, there is still lack of a model describing correctly basic photophysical parameters of organic TADF emitters. This article presents such a photophysical model describing the rates of intersystem crossing (ISC), reverse ISC (rISC), and radiative deactivation in various media and emphasizing key importance of molecular vibrations on the example of a popular TADF dye 9,10-dihydro-9,9-dimethyl-10-(4-(4,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)phenyl)-acridine (DMAC-TRZ). The presented experimental and theoretical investigations prove that ISC and rISC can occur efficiently between the singlet and triplet states of the same charge-transfer nature (¹CT and ³CT, respectively). In emitters with the orthogonal donor and acceptor fragments, such spin-forbidden ¹CT ↔ ³CT transitions are activated by molecular vibrations. Namely, the change of dihedral angle between the donor and the acceptor affords reasonable spin–orbit coupling, which together with a small energy gap and reorganization energy enable ¹CT ↔ ³CT transition rates reaching 1 × 10⁷ s^–1. Evidence of direct ¹CT ↔ ³CT spin-flip and negligible role of a second triplet state, widely believed as a key parameter in the design of (r)ISC materials, change significantly the current understanding of TADF mechanism. In authors’ opinion, photophysics, and molecular design principles of TADF emitters should be revised considering the importance of vibrationally enhanced ¹CT ↔ ³CT transitions.

Electron spin-controlled charge transfer and the resulting long-lived charge transfer state: from transition metal complexes to organic compounds

The generation of long-lived charge transfer (CT) states in electron donor/acceptor dyads upon photoexcitation is crucial for artificial photosynthesis, photocatalysis and photovoltaics. Electron spin control is a novel strategy to prolong the CT state lifetime via generation of the ³CT triplet state, instead of the traditional short-lived ¹CT state. This method involves a local triplet excited state (³LE) as the precursor of charge separation (CS), and the electron forbidden feature of the charge recombination (CR) of ³CT → S₀vs. the electron spin allowed ¹CT → S₀ prolongs the CT state lifetime. In this article, we summarized the recent developments and challenges in this emerging fascinating area.

Recent progress in hot exciton materials for organic light-emitting diodes

According to Kasha's rule, high-lying excited states usually have little effect on fluorescence. However, in some molecular systems, the high-lying excited states partly or even mainly contribute to the photophysical properties, especially in the process of harvesting triplet excitons in organic electroluminescent devices. In the current review, we focus on a type of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) materials called "hot exciton" materials, which can effectively harness the non-radiative triplet excitons via reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) from high-lying triplet states to singlet states (T_n→ S_m; n≥ 2, m≥ 1). Since Ma and Yang proposed the hot exciton mechanism for OLED material design in 2012, there have been many reports aiming at the design and synthesis of novel hot exciton luminogens. Herein, we present a comprehensive review of the recent progress in hot exciton materials. The developments of the hot exciton mechanism are reviewed, the fundamental principles regarding molecular design are discussed, and representative reported hot exciton luminogens are summarized and analyzed, along with their structure-property relationships and OLED applications.

Nanosecond-time-scale delayed fluorescence molecule for deep-blue OLEDs with small efficiency rolloff

Aromatic organic deep-blue emitters that exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) can harvest all excitons in electrically generated singlets and triplets as light emission. However, blue TADF emitters generally have long exciton lifetimes, leading to severe efficiency decrease, i.e., rolloff, at high current density and luminance by exciton annihilations in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Here, we report a deep-blue TADF emitter employing simple molecular design, in which an activation energy as well as spin–orbit coupling between excited states with different spin multiplicities, were simultaneously controlled. An extremely fast exciton lifetime of 750 ns was realized in a donor–acceptor-type molecular structure without heavy metal elements. An OLED utilizing this TADF emitter displayed deep-blue electroluminescence (EL) with CIE chromaticity coordinates of (0.14, 0.18) and a high maximum EL quantum efficiency of 20.7%. Further, the high maximum efficiency were retained to be 20.2% and 17.4% even at high luminance.

Deep-blue emitting organic materials with low exciton lifetime are required to realize efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) at high brightness. Here, the authors report deep-blue OLEDs featuring thermally activated delayed fluorescence molecules with subnano-second exciton lifetime.

Understanding and Designing Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters: Beyond the Energy Gap Approximation

In this article recent progress in the development of molecules exhibiting Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) is discussed with a particular focus upon their application as emitters in highly efficient organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The key aspects controlling the desirable functional properties, e. g. fast intersystem crossing, high radiative rate and unity quantum yield, are introduced with a particular focus upon the competition between the key requirements needed to achieve high performance OLEDs. The design rules required for organic and metal organic materials are discussed, and the correlation between them outlined. Recent progress towards understanding the influence of the interaction between a molecule and its environment are explained as is the role of the mechanism for excited state formation in OLEDs. Finally, all of these aspects are combined to discuss the ability to implement high level design rules for achieving higher quality materials for commercial applications. This article highlights the significant progress that has been made in recent years, but also outlines the significant challenges which persist to achieve a full understanding of the TADF mechanism and improve the stability and performance of these materials.

Type I photosensitizers based on phosphindole oxide for photodynamic therapy: apoptosis and autophagy induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is considered a pioneering and effective modality for cancer treatment, but it is still facing challenges of hypoxic tumors. Recently, Type I PDT, as an effective strategy to address this issue, has drawn considerable attention. Few reports are available on the capability for Type I reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation of purely organic photosensitizers (PSs). Herein, we report two new Type I PSs, α-TPA-PIO and β-TPA-PIO, from phosphindole oxide-based isomers with efficient Type I ROS generation abilities. A detailed study on photophysical and photochemical mechanisms is conducted to shed light on the molecular design of PSs based on the Type I mechanism. The in vitro results demonstrate that these two PSs can selectively accumulate in a neutral lipid region, particularly in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), of cells and efficiently induce ER-stress mediated apoptosis and autophagy in PDT. In vivo models indicate that β-TPA-PIO successfully achieves remarkable tumor ablation. The ROS-based ER stress triggered by β-TPA-PIO-mediated PDT has high potential as a precursor of the immunostimulatory effect for immunotherapy. This work presents a comprehensive protocol for Type I-based purely organic PSs and highlights the significance of considering the working mechanism in the design of PSs for the optimization of cancer treatment protocols.

Phosphindole oxide-based photosensitizers with Type I reactive oxygen species generation ability are developed and used for endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated photodynamic therapy of tumors.

Configuration mixing upon reorganization of dihedral angle induces rapid intersystem crossing in organic photoredox catalyst

A long excited state lifetime is a desirable quality of photocatalysts because it enables a higher probability of energy or electron transfer from the photocatalyst to a substrate.

Fine Modulation of the Higher-Order Excitonic States toward More Efficient Conversion from Upper-Level Triplet to Singlet

Hot exciton luminogens capable of harvesting nonemissive triplet excitons via reverse intersystem crossing from high-order triplet (hRISC) to singlet have great potential in high-efficiency fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Although spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is regarded as a key factor affecting the RISC process, its effects on hot exciton materials are poorly understood. Herein, we design and synthesize two blue-emitting hot exciton luminogens, PABP and PAIDO, to study this issue by modulating the excited-state properties. Theoretical and experimental research contributions demonstrate that a stronger SOC between energetically close S₁ (π-π*) and T_n (T₃, n-π*) of PAIDO gives rise to faster and more efficient hRISC in comparison to that of PABP, leading to a higher external quantum efficiency and a higher exciton utilization efficiency. Crucially, the experimentally measured hRISC rate (k_hRISC) of hot exciton materials is on the order of 10⁷ s^-1, which is much faster than that of the thermally activated delayed fluorescence materials.

Revealing the Cooperative Relationship between Spin, Energy, and Polarization Parameters toward Developing High-Efficiency Exciplex Light-Emitting Diodes

Experimental studies to reveal the cooperative relationship between spin, energy, and polarization through intermolecular charge-transfer dipoles to harvest nonradiative triplets into radiative singlets in exciplex light-emitting diodes are reported. Magneto-photoluminescence studies reveal that the triplet-to-singlet conversion in exciplexes involves an artificially generated spin-orbital coupling (SOC). The photoinduced electron parametric resonance measurements indicate that the intermolecular charge-transfer occurs with forming electric dipoles (D^+• →A^-• ), providing the ionic polarization to generate SOC in exciplexes. By having different singlet-triplet energy differences (ΔE_ST ) in 9,9'-diphenyl-9H,9'H-3,3'-bicarbazole (BCzPh):3',3'″,3'″″-(1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triyl)tris(([1,1'-biphenyl]-3-carbonitrile)) (CN-T2T) (ΔE_ST = 30 meV) and BCzPh:bis-4,6-(3,5-di-3-pyridylphenyl)-2-methyl-pyrimidine (B3PYMPM) (ΔE_ST = 130 meV) exciplexes, the SOC generated by the intermolecular charge-transfer states shows large and small values (reflected by different internal magnetic parameters: 274 vs 17 mT) with high and low external quantum efficiency maximum, EQE_max (21.05% vs 4.89%), respectively. To further explore the cooperative relationship of spin, energy, and polarization parameters, different photoluminescence wavelengths are selected to concurrently change SOC, ΔE_ST , and polarization while monitoring delayed fluorescence. When the electron clouds become more deformed at a longer emitting wavelength due to reduced dipole (D^+• →A^-• ) size, enhanced SOC, increased orbital polarization, and decreased ΔE_ST can simultaneously occur to cooperatively operate the triplet-to-singlet conversion.

Balance between Triplet States in Photoexcited Orthogonal BODIPY Dimers

The intersystem crossing (ISC) and the triplet states in two representative BODIPY orthogonal dimers were studied with time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectroscopy. The electron spin polarization (ESP) of the triplet state of the dimers, accessed with spin-orbit charge-transfer ISC, is different from that of the monomer (spin-orbit coupling-induced ISC). The TREPR spectra show that the triplet state initially formed by charge recombination is localized on either of two subunits, with different preference and ESP patterns. On the basis of the relative orientation of the respective zero field splitting principal axes, the T_x state on one subunit and the T_z state on another subunit in the dimer are overpopulated. The balance between the two triplet states is confirmed by the temperature dependency of the population ratio. No quintet state was detected with TREPR down to 20 K; thus, the recently proposed singlet fission ISC mechanism is excluded.

Realizing 20% External Quantum Efficiency in Electroluminescence with Efficient Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence from an Exciplex

The investigation of nondoped exciplex blends of 2,4,6-tris[3-(diphenylphosphinyl)phenyl]-1,3,5-triazine (PO-T2T), working as the one-electron acceptor molecule, with different electron donors is reported. The emissions of these exciplexes span from the blue to orange-red regions, showing clear contribution from thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and delayed fluorescence originated from nongeminate recombination of charge carriers created by the dissociation of optically generated exciplexes. We focus our studies on the properties of TADF in these systems, covering in particular the physical meaning of the different transient components observed in their luminescence decays. Our results unravel the intricate role of reverse intersystem crossing due to spin-orbit coupling and possibly also due to hyperfine interactions and internal conversion, which affect the efficiency of the TADF mechanism. Remarkable performances are obtained in prototype organic light-emitting diodes fabricated with some of these blends. Green exciplex blends, in particular, exhibited the current efficiency of 60 cd A^-1, power efficiency of 71 lm W^-1, and external quantum efficiency of 20%. We believe that our results will contribute significantly to highlight the potential advantages of intermolecular exciplexes in the area of organic light-emitting diodes.

Electron transfer across a spiro link: extreme solvatofluorochromism of a compact spiro-bridged N,N-dimethylaniline-phthalide dyad

Ultrafast intramolecular electron transfer over a spiro link leads to record-breaking solvatofluorochromism [11 600 cm⁻¹, from 357 (hexane) to 595 nm (acetonitrile)].

Highly efficient deep-blue OLEDs based on hybridized local and charge-transfer emitters bearing pyrene as the structural unit

Pyrene is a quite promising structural unit for HLCT emitters, and deep-blue OLEDs showing quite high brightness over 10 000 cd m⁻² and EQE_max over 10.5% have been achieved.

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence processes for Cu(i) complexes in solid-state: a computational study using quantitative prediction

The photophysical properties of four representative Cu(i) complex crystals have been investigated using the combination of an optimally tuned one- and two-dimensional range-separated hybrid functional with the polarizable continuum model, and the thermal vibration correlation function (TVCF) approach. The calculated excited singlet-triplet energy gap, radiative rates and lifetimes match the experimentally available data perfectly. At 300 K, the reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) proceeds at a rate of k dir. RISC ≈ 106-8 s-1, which is 4-5 orders of magnitude larger than the mean phosphorescence rate, k P ≈ 102-3 s-1. At the same time, the ISC rate k dir. ISC ≈ 109 s-1 is again 2 orders of magnitude larger than the fluorescence rate k F ≈ 107 s-1. In the case of k dir. RISC ≫ k F and k dir. RISC ≫ k P, thermally activated delayed fluorescence should occur. Vibronic spin-orbit coupling can remarkably enhance the ISC rates by the vital "promoting" modes, which can provide crucial pathways to decay. This can be helpful for designing novel excellent TADF Cu(i) complex materials.