White organic light-emitting transistors (OLETs) are poised to be pivotal components in next generation smart displays. However, their development is hindered by the scarcity of ideal materials that concurrently exhibit high charge carrier mobility and efficient white-light emission. Herein, we present a novel molecular design strategy that achieves white electroluminescence by synergistically harnessing emissions from the monomer, excimer, and electromer within a single material. Guided by this approach, we designed and synthesized 2,6-bis(dibenzob,dthiophen-3-yl)anthracene (DTA), which exhibits a photoluminescence quantum yield of 35% and a high saturation hole mobility of 5.8 cm2 V-1 s-1. Remarkably, in single-component OLET devices, DTA manifests an additional electromer emission. The combination of this red-shifted electromer band with the monomer and excimer emissions results in broad-spectrum white electroluminescence, with Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage coordinates of (0.3030, 0.3558). Moreover, the relative intensities of these three emissive species can be dynamically modulated by the gate voltage, enabling real-time tuning of the white color temperature and achieving a high color-rendering index. This work establishes a new design paradigm for high-mobility white-light emitters and represents a significant stride toward practical single-component white OLETs.
Tan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.