Blue Emitting Cationic Iridium Complexes Containing Two Substituted 2-Phenylpyridine and One 2,2'-Biimidazole for Solution-Processed Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)

Two new blue emitting cationic iridium(III) complexes with two substituted 2-phenlypyridine ligands as main ligands and one 2,2'-biimidazole as an ancillary ligand, $[(L1)_2Ir(biim)]Cl$ (1) and $[(L2)_2Ir(biim)]Cl$ (2), where L1 = 2-(2',4'-difluorophenyl)-4-methylpyridine, L2 = 2-(2',4'-difluoro-3'-trifluoromethylphenyl)-4-methylpyridine and biim = 2,2'-biimidazole, were synthesized for applications in phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs). Their photophysical, electrochemical and electroluminescent (EL) device performances were examined. The photoluminescent (PL) spectra revealed blue phosphorescence in the 450 to 485 nm range with a quantum yield of more than 10%. The iridium(III) compounds studied showed good solubility in organic solvents with no solvatochromism dependent on the solvent polarity. The solution-processed OLEDs were prepared with the configuration, ITO/PEDOT:PSS (40 nm)/mCP:Ir(III) (70 nm)/OXD-7 (20 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm), by spin coating the emitting layer containing the mCP host doped with the iridium phosphors. The best performance of the fabricated OLEDs based on compound 1 showed an external quantum efficiency of 4.5%, luminance efficiency of 8.52 cd $A^{-1}$ and blue emission with the CIE coordinates (x,y) of (0.16, 0.33).