Synthesis of a highly phosphorescent emitting iridium(III) complex and its application in OLEDs

A rigid ligand benzo[de]benzo[4,5]imidazo[2,1-α]isoquinolin-7-one (biio) was designed and conveniently synthesized, and the corresponding bis-cyclometalated iridium complex (biio)2Ir(acac) (acac = acetylacetone) was prepared. The light emitting and electrochemical properties of this complex were studied. The complex has the characters of simply synthetic procedure and strong phosphorescence. The electroluminescent device using this complex as dopant was fabricated. The device had the structure of ITO/NPB (40 nm)/Ir complex:CBP (7%, 30 nm)/BCP (15 nm)/Alq3 (30 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm). The maximum emission of the device was at 496 nm. The maximum brightness of the device can reach 79640 cd m−2 with an external quantum efficiency of 12.1% and a maximum current efficiency of 31.7 cd A−1.