Two novel bipolar materials based on 9,9-dimethylfluorene bridges for non-doped blue and red phosphorescent OLED applications

The present study delineates the design and synthesis of two bipolar host materials, namely 4-(7-(9-([1,1′-biphenyl]-4-yl)-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-9,9-dimethyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl)benzonitrile (o-CzDFBN) and 4-(7-(9-([1,1′-biphenyl]-3-yl)-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-9,9-dimethyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl)benzonitrile (p-CzDFBN). By incorporating 9,9-dimethylfluorene as a π conjugated bridge, the fluorescence quantum yield, carrier mobility and balance can be improved. Both host materials have excellent thermal stability, with thermal decomposition temperature (T_d) of exceeding 390 °C and glass transition temperature (T_g) of exceeding 125 °C. Electroluminescent devices using p-CzDFBN as the host material show better performance than those based on o-CzDFBN. The maximum external quantum efficiencyof red PhOLED reaches 27.17%. The non-doped blue OLED achieves a EQE_max of 6.38%, a maximum luminance (L_max) of 20150 cd/m², a maximum current efficiency of 4.81 cd/A, and a maximum power efficiency of 5.40 lm/W. This research contributes to the development of new materials for OLEDs, potentially leading to more efficient, stable, and high-performing OLEDs.