A green emitting iridium(III) complex with narrow emission band and its application to phosphorescence organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs)

Abstract

The homoleptic Ir(III) complex, fac-tris{2-(3'-trimethylsilylphenyl)-5-trimethylsilylpyridinato}liridium, has been synthesized and characterized to investigate the effect of the substitution of bulky silyl groups on the photophysical properties and electroluminescence (EL) characteristics of Ir(ppy)(3) (ppy = 2-phenylpyridine). The absorption, emission, cyclic voltammetry and electroluminescent performance of the complex have also been evaluated. A power efficiency of 17.3 lm/W at 10 mA/cm(2) compared to 11.7 lm/W for Ir(ppy)(3) is achieved with the new complex as a dopant in phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In addition, the complex shows a narrow emission band of a small full width at half-maximum (fwhm, ca. 50 nm) value. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.