Efficient red electroluminescence from organic devices using dye-doped rare earth complexes

Using rare earth complexes with electron-transporting properties as host materials, and 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) as a dopant, bilayer doped electroluminescent (EL) devices with efficient red light emission were fabricated. When a europium complex was adopted, the EL spectrum consisted of emissions from DCJTB and Eu3+ ions. At optimal dopant concentration, an EL efficiency of 5.7 cd/A at 0.04 mA/cm(2) was observed. Although the EL efficiency decreased with an increase in current density, it remained higher than 2.0 cd/A with brightness of 347.0 cd/m(2) at 5.7 V bias. DCJTB and Eu3+ ions collected the energy of singlet and triplet excitons, respectively, and then gave rise to pure red color emission, suggesting a promising way by which to utilize both singlet and triplet excited states in EL devices. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.