New spiro[benzotetraphene-fluorene] derivatives: synthesis and application in sky-blue fluorescent host materials

Blue light-emitting spiro[benzotetraphene-fluorene] (SBTF)-based host materials, 3-(1-naphthyl)-10-naphthylspiro[benzo[ij]tetraphene-7,9'-fluorene] (1), 3-(2-naphthyl)-10-naphthylspiro[benzo[ij]tetraphene-7,9'-fluorene] (2), and 3-[2-(6-phenyl)naphthyl]-10-naphthylspiro[benzo[ij]tetraphene-7,9'-fluorene] (3) were designed and prepared via multi-step Suzuki coupling reactions. Introducing various aromatic groups into SBTF core lead to a reduction in band gap and a determination of the color purity and luminescence efficiency. Typical sky-blue fluorescent organic light emitting diodes with the configuration of ITO/N,N'-di(1-naphthyl)-N,N'-bis[(4-diphenylamino)phenyl]-biphenyl-4,4'-diamie (60 nm)/N,N,N',N'-tetra(1-biphenyl)-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine (30 nm)/host: dopant (30 nm, 5%)/LG201 (electron transporting layer, 20 nm)/LiF/Al were developed using SBTF derivatives as a host material and p-bis(p-N,N-diphenyl-aminostyryl)benzene (DSA-Ph) as a sky-blue dopant material. A device obtained from three materials doped with DSA-Ph showed color purity of 0.148 and 0.239, a luminance efficiency of 7.91 cd/A, and an external quantum efficiency >4.75% at 5 V.