Efficient White OLEDs Employing Phosphorescent Sensitization

We have investigated white-emitting organic light-emitting devices (WOLEDs) making use of both blue-phosphor-sensitized orange-red fluorescence and the residual blue phosphorescence. By carefully adjusting the concentrations the phosphor and the fluorophore in the emitting layer and choosing the carrier-transport layers in the device structure, WOLEDs containing a single phosphor-sensitized emitting layer (type-I devices) can give colors close to the equal-energy white (0.33, 0.33), CRI up to 75, and efficiencies up to (10%, 23 cd/A, 13.4lm/W). Furthermore, by doping a green phosphor into the poorly emitting electron-transport layer (type-II devices) to recycle excitons formed there, the EL efficiencies can be further enhanced up to (12.1%, 35.3 cd/A, 23.9lm/W). In both types of devices, the phosphor sensitization reduces population of triplet excitons in the emitting region and substantially mitigates the efficiency roll-off with the driving current or brightness that is often observed in all-phosphor OLEDs. At the brightness of 1000 cd/m², both types of devices retain quantum and cadmium per ampere (cd/A) efficiencies similar to their peak values