Efficient greenish-blue phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes containing carbene and triazole chromophores for organic light-emitting diodes

Two heteroleptic iridium(III) complexes using carbene as cyclometalated ligands and pyridine-triazole as ancillary ligand, namely (fpmi)2Ir(mtzpy) (1) and (fpmi)2Ir(phtzpy) (2) [fpmi = 1-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-methylimdazolin-2-ylidene-C,C2′, mtzpy = 2-(5-methyl-2H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)pyridine, phtzpy = 2-(5-phenyl-2H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)pyridine], were synthesized and their structural, photophysical and electrochemical properties investigated systematically. Both complexes exhibit bright greenish-blue phosphorescence (λmax ∼490 nm) with quantum yields of about 0.50. Comprehensive density functional theory (DFT) approach was then performed to gain insights into their photophysical and electrochemical characters. The fabrication of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), employing complexes 1 and 2 as phosphorescent dopants, was successfully achieved. Among them, the device based on 1 exhibited considerable power efficiency (ηp) of 11.43 lm W−1 and current efficiency (ηc) of 11.78 cd A−1. With the merit of intrinsic characteristic of complex 1, a white OLED comprised of 1 and one orange phosphor (pbi)2Ir(biq) achieved a peak ηp of 9.95 lm W−1 and ηc of 10.81 cd A−1, together with Commission Internationale de lʹEclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.34, 0.40). The results indicate that two iridium(III) complexes reported here are promising phosphorescent dyes for OLEDs.