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This work provides the synthesis, structural characterization, electrochemical and photophysical features, as well as the application in light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) of a novel small molecule belonging to the pyridilimidazo[1,5-a]pyridine family, namely 3-(2-methoxyphenyl)-5-methyl-1-(6-methylpyridin-2-yl)H-imidazo[1,5-a]pyridine (Me-impy). This compound shows a low-cost and facile synthesis, excellent redox properties, and a high photoluminescence quantum yield (Φ) of 0.4 associated to a blue emission (∼436 nm) in solution. Despite these appealing features, the emission in solid state is red-shifted to the yellow region, owing to its aggregation character. Additionally, the electroluminescence response shows a broader and red-shifted emission even upon dilution of Me-impy thin films with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Herein, we report an in-depth study on the aggregation features and their impact on the electroluminescence response of Me-impy, providing relevant information to design small-molecule based LECs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid-state light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) show several advantages over conventional organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) such as simple device structure compatible with solution processes, low operation voltage and capability of utilizing inert cathode metals. However, device performance of LECs must be improved, e.g. enhancing light extraction, to meet the requirements for practical applications. Among the optical modes trapped in LECs, light trapped in substrate mode is easier to be extracted, e.g. , by simply roughing the output surface. Therefore, increasing the percentage of substrate mode is beneficial in improving light extraction. In this work, the contributions of optical modes in LECs employing substrates with various refractive indices are analyzed. Higher-refractive-index substrates are shown to trap more light in the substrates. Smaller refractive index difference between higher-refractive-index substrate and indium tin oxide (ITO) layer also increases the cutoff spectral range of light waveguided in ITO layer. Furthermore, light intensity in surface plasmon mode significantly reduces as the refractive index of the substrate increases. Reducing the percentage of surface plasmon mode facilitates light extraction since it requires more complicated methods for outcoupling light in this mode. With commercially available unpolished sapphire substrates, light output of LECs is enhanced by 56%. When a scattering layer was inserted between ITO and sapphire substrate, more light in substrate mode can be extracted and 71% enhancement in light output is realized. High external quantum efficiency up to 5.5% is consequently obtained in LECs based on a ruthenium complex. Such device efficiency is among the highest reported values for red-emitting LECs and thus confirms that utilizing higher-refractive-index substrates would offer a simple and feasible approach to improve light output of LECs. In comparison to OLEDs, increased EL trapped in substrates of LECs mainly comes from surface plasmon mode rather than waveguide mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, white solid-state light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) have drawn great attention since they exhibit advantages such as low-voltage operation, compatibility with solution processes and employing inert cathode metals. Since different correlated color temperatures (CCTs) of background illumination are necessary for various lighting applications, a real-time tunable CCT of white LECs would be highly desired in modern smart lighting systems. In this work, a widely and dynamically tuning CCT (>10000 K) of white LEC is demonstrated by employing an electrochromic device (ECD) as a real-time controllable color filter. By increasing the applied bias on the ECD to attenuate more the red parts of white EL from the white LEC, the LEC-based white light source becomes more bluish and, in consequence, shows higher CCT. This proposed LEC-based white light source with the characteristics of wide CCT range and real-time tunability is suitable for most lighting applications and modern smart lighting systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction of intramolecular π-π packing between cyclometalated and ancillary ligand have been proved to be a feasible way to design cationic Ir(III) phosphors for stable light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs). Employing blue-green ( C1 ) and yellow-emitting ( C2 ) Ir(III) complexes as emitters, in which such π-π interactions between ligands occur, the stable and efficient LECs with peak current efficiency of 21.9 cd/A and 20.3 cd/A, respectively, were realized. To achieve the white electroluminescence, herein, a new red-emitting cationic Ir (III) complex ( C3) using 2-(5-phenyl-2-phenyl-2 H -1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)pyridine as ancillary ligand was designed and synthesized. A warm white light emitting, by doping C3 into the blue-green emitting C1 , exhibits the current efficiency of 10.1 cd/A. In addition, the obtained LECs are more stable than those of previous reports due to presence of intrinsic super-cage structures in the systems. The results indicate that the efficient white LECs hold promising applications in the practical solid state lighting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Cationic iridium complexes were synthesized using imidazole based ancillary ligand. [•] Light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) were fabricated and characterized. [•] LECs based on these complexes resulted in green and blue–green light emission. [•] Imidazole based ancillary ligands are good candidate to destabilize LUMO orbitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Green and yellow light emitting phosphorescent iridium complexes with 5-methyl-1,10-phenanthroline as an ancillary ligand were synthesized and characterized for the fabrication of light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs). The photophysical and electrochemical properties of the resulting complexes, [Ir(dfppy)2(Me-phen)]PF6 (1) and [Ir(ppz)2(Me-phen)]PF6 (2) (where dfppy=2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)pyridine; ppz=1-phenylpyrazole, Me-phen=5-methyl-1,10-phenanthroline) were investigated by means of UV–Vis absorption, fluorescence spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to gain insight into the photophysical and electrochemical behaviors and to determine the electronic energy levels for the complexes. LECs were fabricated based on these complexes and their electroluminescent properties were investigated, which resulted in a maximum luminance of 2430 and 1549cdm−2 for complexes 1 and 2 respectively. LECs incorporating these heteroleptic complexes effectively tuned the emission color through the meticulous selection of the cyclometallated ligands and they displayed highly luminescent green and yellow electroluminescence with the Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.25, 0.58) and (0.42, 0.54) for complexes 1 and 2 respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A cationic iridium complex [Ir(ppz)2(dmphen)]PF6 was synthesized, in which ppz is 1-phenylpyrazole and dmphen is 5,6-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline, and characterized by spectroscopic and photophysical methods. Light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) were fabricated using the resulting complex and their electroluminescent properties were investigated. LECs based on [Ir(ppz)2(dmphen)]PF6 gave a yellow electroluminescence of 4052cdm−2 at 9.0V. Furthermore, the luminance of the devices was constructively tuned by doping ionic liquids (ILs) into the light emitting layer. The addition of ILs resulted in enhanced luminance of the devices at shorter turn-on voltages indicating its great potential for display and lighting applications. Among the three employed ILs, BMIMPF6 showed best performance in terms of luminance of 3850cdm−2 at 6.5V. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Highly luminescent light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) based on cationic iridium complexes [Ir(ppz)2(dpphen)]PF6 (1) and [Ir(ppz)2(tmphen)]PF6 (2) (ppz is 1-phenylpyrazole, dpphen is 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline and tmphen is 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline) with phenanthroline based ancillary ligands were fabricated using air stable electrodes and their electroluminescent properties were investigated. LECs based on complex 1 emitted yellow electroluminescence (λ max 574nm) with Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.49, 0.50) while the complex 2 gave yellowish-green electroluminescence (λ max 537nm) with CIE coordinates of (0.35, 0.58). The work done here reveals that the alkyl substituted phenanthroline ancillary ligand, tmphen shifts the light emission to the shorter wavelength region than the phenyl substituted dpphen ligand, resulting in the color tuning of the light-emitting devices. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to gain insight into the molecular surfaces of cationic iridium complexes and their electrochemical behaviors. Single layer LECs based on these complexes exhibited a high luminescence of 5199 and 4751cd/m2 for complexes 1 and 2 respectively. The ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (EMIMPF6) was added to the light emitting layer and hence higher luminances were obtained than the pristine device. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]