Excited state luminescence of multi-(5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazo-2-yl)benzenes in an electron-donating matrix: exciplex or electroplex?

Multi-(5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazo-2-yl)benzenes show emission in organic solvents from ultraviolet to blue (339-447 nm). The reduction potentials E(1/2)(red) cover a large range of -2.11 V for 2,5-diphenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole to -0.76 V for 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexa(5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazo-2-yl)benzene. An unexpectedly wide spectral range of the oxadiazole (OXD) exciplex emissions in PVK is observed, ranging from 406 to 603 nm. The OXDs also exhibit similar electroluminescence (EL) when blended into polyvinylcarbazole (PVK). A linear correlation between the lambda(max) of the electroluminescence and photoluminescence is observed, implying that the emission mechanisms in both processes are similar. In addition, the linear correlation between the E(1/2)(red) versus lambda(max) of EL (eV) reflected that the term of the charge-transfer configuration of the contact electron-hole pair plays a major role in the exciplex emission. The exciplex EL of 1,2,5-tri(5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazo-2-yl)benzene (5) could be as high as 1.0 cd/A. Since the exciplex emission usually has a large Stokes shift, this provides a window for us to generate duo emissions for near white light EL with high efficiency. Among the devices we tried, the device of PVK/2-tert-butylphenyl-5-biphenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole/5/2,5,8,11-tetra-tert-butylperylene (100:40:40:4) gave EL with good current efficiency of 1.63 cd/A.