Narrowband Near-Infrared Multiple-Resonance Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters towards High-Performance and Stable Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

Multiple-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) materials are highly coveted for their high efficiency and narrowband emission in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Nevertheless, the development of near-infrared (NIR) MR-TADF emitters remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we design two new NIR MR-TADF emitters, PXZ-R-BN and BCz-R-BN, by embedding 10H-phenoxazine (PXZ) and 7H-dibenzo[c,g]carbazole (BCz) fragments to increase the electron-donating ability or extending pi-conjugation on the framework of para-boron fusing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Both compounds emit in the NIR region, with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 49 nm (0.13 eV) for PXZ-R-BN and 43 nm (0.11 eV) for BCz-R-BN in toluene. To sensitize the two NIR MR-TADF emitters in OLEDs, a new platinum complex, Pt-1, is designed as a sensitizer. The PXZ-R-BN-based sensitized OLEDs achieve a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE(max)) of nearly 30 % with an emission band at 693 nm, and exceptional long operational stability with an LT97 (time to 97 % of the initial luminance) value of 39084 h at an initial radiance of 1000 mW sr(-1) m(-2). The BCz-R-BN-based OLEDs reach EQE(max) values of 24.2 % with an emission band at 713 nm, which sets a record value for NIR OLEDs with emission bands beyond 700 nm.