Background
Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) for electroluminescence are considered to be the future of lighting technology; however, due to spin statistics upon electroexcitation, the maximum internal efficiency for first generation emitters is 25% as 75% of excitons enter nonfluorescent triplet states.
In this project, we focus on a mechanism of fluorescence whereby we are able to harvest the triplet excitons from the singlet state via reverse intersystem crossing, boosting the internal efficiency up to 100%. This type of fluorescence is call thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) or third-generation emission.
Research project
The project is focussed on organic synthesis of novel TADF materials for use in optoelectronics and uses common organic synthetic techniques such as air- and water-free chemistry, recrystallisation, chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS). Other techniques such as UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy in solution and also in spun-coat films may be used.
Outcomes
After synthesis, purification and basic photo spectroscopic characterisation, materials shall be shipped to collaborators in other institutions for in-depth measurement of the reverse intersystem crossing and for fabrication of small test OLED pixels.
Study level
- Vacation Research Experience Scheme
- Capstone (CVB304)
- Honours
- Master of Philosophy
- PhD
- Thomas Flanagan (PhD student)