Preparations of iridium complexes containing phenanthroline ancillary ligands and electrical properties of cationic iridium-based light-emitting electrochemical cells

The preparation and electrical properties of ionic transition metal complex light-emitting electrochemical cells using phenanthroline-based ancillary ligands in metal complexes have been investigated. Luminous layer was prepared by the synthesis of tetrakis(2-phenylpyridine-C,N')(mu-dichloro)diiridium and two kinds of phenathroline ancillary ligands and the ion exchange of ammonium hexafluorophosphate. Two devices have been fabricated with structures of ITO/poly(3,4-ethylenedixythionphene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)(PEDOT:PSS)/[iridium(2-phenylpyridine)2(5-methyl-1,10-phenathroline)]PF6/Al and ITO/poly(3,4-ethylenedixythionphene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/[iridium(2-phenylpyridine)2(5,6-dimethyl-1,10-phenathroline)]PF6/Al. Both devices presented yellow emission color and showed low turn-on voltage, which were approximately 3 V and high luminance. The device based on ITO/PEDOT:PSS/[iridium(2-phenylpyridine)2(5,6-dimethyl-1,10-phenathroline)]PF6/Al showed higher luminance than the other. Copyright (C) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.