journal article·2026-03Open access

High‐Efficiency TADF Dendritic Emitters Enabled by Synchronously Inhibiting Degenerated Triplet Excited States and Structural Relaxation Toward Solution‐Processed OLEDs with EQE Over 33%

Xiaoxiang Yu, Wei Ping, Chengshuang Song, Jinyang Zhao, Lei Hua, Junjie Wang, Shian Ying, Yuchao Liu, Zhongjie Ren, Shouke Yan

Advanced Science· Volume 13· Issue 18

Abstract

ABSTRACT Manufacturing high‐performance solution‐processed organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) employing thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) dendritic emitters remains a formidable challenge due to the lack of efficient TADF dendrimers. Herein, a symmetry breaking strategy is adopted to construct an asymmetrical TADF dendrimer denoted as DMAC‐XT‐TCz . An in‐depth analysis of the photophysical properties combining with theoretical calculation expose that the asymmetrical architecture of target emitter switches degenerated triplet excited states to isolated counterpart, thereby effectively breaking the degeneracy of vibrational levels and boosting the spin flip of triplet excitons. Additionally, the nonradiative decay is also suppressed due to imbedding oxygen linkage to locking electron‐donating skeleton. Thus, near‐unity photoluminescence efficiency and excellent reverse intersystem crossing rate of 7.8 × 10 5 s −1 can be achieved for DMAC‐XT‐TCz . Impressively, the optimized solution‐processed OLEDs achieve an attractive external quantum efficiency of 33.7%, which is the highest value for TADF dendrimer‐based OLEDs. By using DMAC‐XT‐TCz as sensitizer, the solution‐processed narrowband OLEDs based on a multiple‐resonance TADF emitter also acquire record‐high device performances with current efficiency of 117.7 cd A −1 . This study highlights the significance of asymmetric architecture in designing high‐efficiency TADF dendrimer, and provides an effective strategy to boost solution‐processed narrowband OLEDs through adopting TADF dendrimer as sensitizer.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research · Luminescence and Fluorescent Materials · Dendrimers and Hyperbranched Polymers

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department Key Laboratory of Rubber‐Plastics School of Polymer Science and Engineering/State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Polymer and Manufacturing Technology Ministry of Education/Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Rubber‐Plastics Qingdao University of Science & Technology Qingdao P. R. China

State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering College of Materials Science and Engineering Beijing University of Chemical Technology Beijing P. R. China

School of Materials Science & Engineering Changzhou University Changzhou P. R. China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China · Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province

References (56)

Show source-provided references
1. 10.1038/nature1168710.1038/nature11687 ↗
2. 10.1038/natrevmats.2018.2010.1038/natrevmats.2018.20 ↗
3. 10.1038/s41566-019-0476-510.1038/s41566-019-0476-5 ↗
4. 10.1038/s41563-020-0710-z10.1038/s41563-020-0710-z ↗
5. 10.1038/s41566-024-01508-w10.1038/s41566-024-01508-w ↗
6. 10.1002/adma.20200124810.1002/adma.202001248 ↗
7. 10.1002/anie.20251312910.1002/anie.202513129 ↗
8. 10.1002/adma.20160167510.1002/adma.201601675 ↗
9. 10.1038/s41467-023-37687-310.1038/s41467-023-37687-3 ↗
10. 10.1002/adma.20210329310.1002/adma.202103293 ↗
11. Fast Reverse Intersystem Crossing Over 107 s−1 via Near‐Enantiomeric Charge‐Transfer Transitions
12. 10.1038/s41566-018-0112-910.1038/s41566-018-0112-9 ↗
13. 10.1002/adma.20230772510.1002/adma.202307725 ↗
14. 10.1002/anie.20242025310.1002/anie.202420253 ↗
15. 10.1002/adma.20220745410.1002/adma.202207454 ↗
16. 10.1002/adma.20190239110.1002/adma.201902391 ↗
17. 10.1002/anie.20211514010.1002/anie.202115140 ↗
18. 10.31635/ccschem.022.20220190010.31635/ccschem.022.202201900 ↗
19. 10.1002/adfm.20230532410.1002/adfm.202305324 ↗
20. 10.1002/anie.20150020310.1002/anie.201500203 ↗
21. 10.1002/adma.20211034410.1002/adma.202110344 ↗
22. 10.1002/anie.20241272010.1002/anie.202412720 ↗
23. 10.1002/adma.20230410310.1002/adma.202304103 ↗
24. 10.1002/adma.20250218010.1002/adma.202502180 ↗
25. 10.1038/347539a010.1038/347539a0 ↗
26. 10.1002/adfm.20060065110.1002/adfm.200600651 ↗
27. 10.1002/adma.20210888710.1002/adma.202108887 ↗
28. 10.1038/s41563-018-0057-x10.1038/s41563-018-0057-x ↗
29. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.74410.1103/PhysRevLett.73.744 ↗
30. 10.1021/ma970914e10.1021/ma970914e ↗
31. 10.1021/ma021614m10.1021/ma021614m ↗
32. 10.1002/adma.20230051010.1002/adma.202300510 ↗
33. 10.1002/anie.20221891110.1002/anie.202218911 ↗
34. 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b0027610.1021/acs.jpcc.5b00276 ↗
35. 10.1038/s41467-024-51231-x10.1038/s41467-024-51231-x ↗
36. 10.1007/s11426-023-1945-810.1007/s11426-023-1945-8 ↗
37. 10.1038/nmat415410.1038/nmat4154 ↗
38. 10.1002/adma.20160544410.1002/adma.201605444 ↗
39. 10.1021/cr040084k10.1021/cr040084k ↗
40. 10.1021/acsmaterialslett.4c0027310.1021/acsmaterialslett.4c00273 ↗
41. 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b0629910.1021/acs.jpcc.7b06299 ↗
42. 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.11081710.1016/j.cclet.2025.110817 ↗
43. 10.1002/cphc.20160066210.1002/cphc.201600662 ↗
44. 10.1002/advs.20220147010.1002/advs.202201470 ↗
45. 10.1103/PhysRevB.75.19520110.1103/PhysRevB.75.195201 ↗
46. 10.1021/cr400704v10.1021/cr400704v ↗
47. 10.1021/acsami.8b0945110.1021/acsami.8b09451 ↗
48. 10.1002/adma.20140547410.1002/adma.201405474 ↗
49. Calculation of Molecular Orbital Composition
50. 10.1002/jcc.2288510.1002/jcc.22885 ↗
51. 10.1021/acs.macromol.4c0074910.1021/acs.macromol.4c00749 ↗
52. 10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.10480010.1016/j.nanoen.2020.104800 ↗
53. 10.1002/adfm.20170492710.1002/adfm.201704927 ↗
54. 10.1038/s41566-021-00765-310.1038/s41566-021-00765-3 ↗
55. 10.1038/s41566-020-00745-z10.1038/s41566-020-00745-z ↗
56. 10.1038/s41566-021-00763-510.1038/s41566-021-00763-5 ↗