4-Diphenylaminocarbazole: Switching Substituent Position for Voltage Reduction and Efficiency Enhancement of OLEDs

Simple but exceptionally efficient 4-diphenylaminocarbazole host material, 4-DPACz, is presented and compared with its positional isomer, 1-DPACz. The shift of diphenylamino substituent from the 1-position to 4-position of carbazole resulted in an increase in the HOMO energy level as well as an increase in triplet energy level. Having a high triplet energy level (2.76 eV) and well-matched HOMO energy level (-5.61 eV), 4-DPACz showed reduced driving voltage and higher efficiencies for solution-processed green PhOLEDs compated to PVK as well as 1-DPACz. Maximum luminous, power, and external quantum efficiencies reaching to 47.9 cd A^-1, 25.2 lm W^-1, and 14.3%, respectively, were achieved with a device configuration of [ITO/PEDOT:PSS/4-DPACz:Ir(mppy)₃/TPBi/CsF/Al]. Additional enhancement of efficiencies of 4-DPACz was verified when incorporating another dopant, Ir(Si-bppy)₂(acac), resulting in 59.1 cd A^-1, 29.5 lm W^-1, and 15.8%. Furthermore, reduced efficiency roll-off was clearly observed for 4-DPACz compared with PVK. Such improved device characteristics of 4-DPACz were attributed to its high hole mobility and charge balance inside the emitting layer therof. The excellent results using such a simple-structured 4-DPACz could promote various applications of this 4-DPACz unit as a building block structure for further possible oligomeric, dendritic, and polymeric materials.