Design of Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials: Transition from Carbonyl to Amide-Based Acceptor

Benzophenone skeletons containing a carbonyl unit (O=C) have been widely used as electron acceptors in the thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials. Herein, we present a novel molecular design concept for TADF materials by transitioning from a carbonyl to an amide (O=C-N) skeleton as the acceptor. The amide unit, compared to its carbonyl counterpart, offers a more stable electronic configuration. Leveraging this insight, we have developed a series of high-performance TADF molecules based on benzoyl carbazole and carbazoline acceptors. These molecules exhibit exceptionally small singlet-triplet energy gaps and pronounced aggregation-enhanced emission properties, achieving photoluminescence quantum yields in neat films as high as 99 %. Consequently, these materials serve as efficient emitters in non-doped organic light-eimtting diodes (OLEDs), reaching a maximum quantum efficiency (EQE_max) of up to 26.0 %, significantly higher than the 17.0 % obtained with benzophenone acceptor-based TADF molecules. Additionally, they have been used as TADF hosts in narrowband red fluorescent OLEDs, setting a record-high EQE_max of 22.4 %.