Highly Efficient Triplet-Triplet Annihilation Upconversion with a Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Molecule as Triplet Photosensitizer

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules have great potential for practical applications as triplet photosensitizers, owing to their long triplet lifetimes, almost negligible energy loss in intersystem crossing, and excellent light harvesting ability. Recently, several triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) upconversion systems using the TADF photosensitizer have been reported. To provide comprehensive dynamic information for designing an optimized system in the future, more experiments with the new TADF photosensitizers are necessary. Herein, we conducted a new TTA upconversion system with a recently developed TADF molecule, DMACPDO, as the triplet photosensitizer and 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA) as the annihilator. The overall upconversion yield was determined to be relatively high, e.g., 22.3% in toluene, 21.9% in benzene, and 8.1% in chlorobenzene. By examining elementary photophysical and photochemical processes with time-resolved transient absorption and fluorescence emission spectroscopy, we revealed the influence of solvent polarity and viscosity on each step. Our conclusion highlights the elusive solvent effect in TTA upconversion application of the TADF photosensitizer.