Recent advances and prospects for organoboron-based thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters

The intense interest in organic boron-containing light-emitting materials stems from their attractive potential electron-deficient characteristics and excellent fluorescence efficiency. Delicate molecular design of organic boron-containing emitters and comprehensive studies of the relationship between their chemical structures and photophysical properties are of great significance for developing high-performance emitters. In this review, an overview of the recent studies on organoboron-based emitters for applications in organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) is presented. First, we give a brief introduction to the basic properties of organoboron materials. And then, the recent research progress of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials containing triaryl/diarylboron, 10H-phenoxaborin, 5,9-dioxa-13b-boranaphtho[3,2,1-de]anthracene (DBNA), and 5,9-diphenyl-5,9-dihydroquinoxalino[3,2,1-de]phenazine (DABAN) is reviewed systematically with a focus on the molecular design, photophysical properties and performance of the corresponding OLEDs. Finally, the future challenges of organoboron-based materials are discussed.