Study of Configuration Differentia and Highly Efficient, Deep‐Blue, Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes Based on Novel Naphtho[1,2‐ d ]imidazole Derivatives

Two novel naphtho[1,2‐ d ]imidazole derivatives are developed as deep‐blue, light‐emitting materials for organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). The 1 H ‐naphtho[1,2‐ d ]imidazole based compounds exhibit a significantly superior performance than the 3 H ‐naphtho[1,2‐d]imidazole analogues in the single‐layer devices. This is because they have a much higher capacity for direct electron‐injection from the cathode compared to their isomeric counterparts resulting in a ground‐breaking EQE (external quantum efficiency) of 4.37% and a low turn‐on voltage of 2.7 V, and this is hitherto the best performance for a non‐doped single‐layer fluorescent OLED. Multi‐layer devices consisting of both hole‐ and electron‐transporting layers, result in identically excellent performances with EQE values of 4.12–6.08% and deep‐blue light emission (Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) y values of 0.077–0.115) is obtained for both isomers due to the improved carrier injection and confinement within the emissive layer. In addition, they showed a significantly better blue‐color purity than analogous molecules based on benzimidazole or phenanthro[9,10‐ d ]imidazole segments.