Low molecular amorphous spirobifluorene derivatives for blue electroluminescence

We report the synthesis and characterization of new alkoxy substituted spirobifluorene derivatives. The spiro compounds having alkoxy hydrocarbon chains were readily soluble in common organic solvents, having improved film-forming properties and had a significantly reduced tendency to crystallize, resulting in increasing their service lifetime. The results of DSC showed that it was amorphous. The optical and electroluminescent spectra were characterized. Electroluminescence (EL) properties of three-layer light emitting diodes (LED) of $ITO/TPD/spirobifluorene/Alq_3/LiF/Al$ as the active layer were characterized. Blue emission peaking of the EL spectrum of the three-layer device at 402 nm and a luminance of 3,125 $cd/m^2$ were achieved at a drive voltage 12.8 V. The luminous efficiency was obtained to be 1.7 lm/W. The color coordinate in CIE chromaticity is (0.16, 0.09), which is in a pure blue region. The external quantum efficiency was obtained to be 2.0%. The results indicate that the spirobifluorene compounds having alkoxy hydrocarbon chains are strongly potential blue emitters for LED applications.