Highly Efficient Luminescence of Cu(I) Compounds: Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Combined with Short-Lived Phosphorescence

Luminescent materials showing thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) have gained high attractiveness as emitters in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and other photonic applications. Nevertheless, even utilization of TADF can be further improved, introducing a novel concept. This is demonstrated by a new class of brightly luminescent low-cost Cu(I) compounds, for which the emission stems from both the lowest excited triplet T1 and singlet S1 state. At T = 300 K, these materials exhibit quantum yields of more than ΦPL = 90% at short emission decay times. About 80% of the emission intensity stems from the singlet due to TADF, but importantly, an additional 20% is contributed by the lower lying triplet state according to effective spin-orbit coupling (SOC). SOC induces also a relatively large zero-field splitting of the triplet being unusual for Cu(I) complexes. Thus, the overall emission decay time is distinctly reduced. Combined use of both decay paths opens novel photonic applications, in particular, for OLEDs.