title: Exciplex emission from electroluminescent ladder-type pentaphenylene oligomers bearing both electron- and hole-accepting substituents.
abstract: We examine the photophysical properties of ladder-type pentaphenylenes, which have been prepared as prototypical "all-in-one" emissive materials bearing both electron-accepting (diaryloxadiazole) and electron-donating (triphenylamine) units. We find that donor-acceptor interactions are very dependent on the nature of the connectivity of these groups to the main pentaphenylene chain. When the oxadiazole and triphenylamine units were substituted on opposite sides of the pi-conjugated pentaphenylene chromophore, photoluminescence with long lifetimes typical of exciplex-like species was observed, while being significantly quenched by intermolecular charge separation between the substituents. By contrast, when the triphenylamine units were attached at the ends of the chromophore, no such effects were observed and a blue/green photoluminescence was obtained with very high quantum efficiency. In this latter configuration, evidence of ambipolar charge transport and a blue/green electroluminescence were additionally observed.
authors.affiliation: Cavendish Laboratory, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom. cef26@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Chris E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Finlayson
authors.forename: Ji-Seon
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Liddell
authors.forename: Richard H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Friend
authors.forename: Sung-Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Grimsdale
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Müllen