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Luminescent gold(III) exciplexes enable efficient multicolor electroluminescence

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Abstract

The control of excited states and related emissive properties of gold(III) complexes mainly depends on the modulation of intramolecular electronic interactions among gold(III) metal center, chelating ligands and/or peripheral groups. However, luminescent gold(III) systems based on intermolecular electronic interactions have never been explored. Here we report a series of proof-of-concept gold(III) exciplexes using a simple gold(III) complex, AuDPPy, as an electron acceptor. The emissive properties of gold(III) exciplexes can be regulated by combining AuDPPy with different donors. Inspiringly, these gold(III) exciplexes have donor-dependent emission mechanisms: dominant phosphorescence or dual radiative channels of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and phosphorescence. Consequently, these gold(III) exciplexes deliver green-to-red electroluminescence with external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of up to 10.1%. More importantly, using these gold(III) exciplexes to host multi-resonance TADF emitters results in narrowband yellow, orange, and deep-red electroluminescence with high EQEs of 23.5%, 24.4%, and 27.4%, respectively, competitive to the highest values for gold(III) OLEDs in similar color gamut.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52022071, 52130308) and Shenzhen Fundamental Research Program (JCYJ20190808151209557, ZDSYS20210-623091813040). The authors wish to acknowledge the supercomputing system in the Supercomputing Center of Wuhan University for numerical calculations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Hubei Key Laboratory on Organic and Polymeric Optoelectronic Materials, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Lisi Zhan, Tianhao Chen, Cheng Zhong, Chuluo Yang & Shaolong Gong

  2. Shenzhen Key Laboratory of New Information Display and Storage Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Xiaosong Cao, Yang Zou & Chuluo Yang

  3. Shenzhen Research Institute of Wuhan University, Shenzhen, 518057, China

    Tianhao Chen & Shaolong Gong

  4. Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Zhengyang Bin & Jingsong You

  5. Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Yuewei Zhang, Dongdong Zhang & Lian Duan

Authors
  1. Lisi Zhan
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  2. Tianhao Chen
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  3. Cheng Zhong
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  4. Xiaosong Cao
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  6. Yang Zou
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  7. Zhengyang Bin
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  9. Dongdong Zhang
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  10. Lian Duan
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  11. Chuluo Yang
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  12. Shaolong Gong
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Correspondence to Chuluo Yang or Shaolong Gong.

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Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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The supporting information is available online at chem.scichina.com and link.springer.com/journal/11426. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Zhan, L., Chen, T., Zhong, C. et al. Luminescent gold(III) exciplexes enable efficient multicolor electroluminescence. Sci. China Chem. 66, 3213–3222 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-023-1546-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-023-1546-5

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