Highly Efficient Fluorescent Organic Light-Emitting Devices Using a Luminescent Radical as the Sensitizer

In traditional fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), the upper limit of internal quantum efficiency (IQE) is only 25% because 75% of triplet excitons created on the fluorescent dyes are nonluminous. Here luminescent radicals are proposed as the sensitizer. Under ideal conditions, electrons and holes first recombine on the sensitizer molecule to create doublet excitons, then through energy transfer to generate singlet excitons on the fluorescent dye, and, finally, via radiative decay to emit light. The upper limit of IQE can theoretically reach 100%. As an example, the maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of a fluorescent OLED sensitized by a luminescent radical, TTM-1Cz, has reached 8.1%, which is much higher than the upper limit of EQE of traditional fluorescent OLEDs. Our results suggest a new route to realize highly efficient fluorescent OLEDs.