Donor Interlocked Molecular Design for Fluorescence-like Narrow Emission in Deep Blue Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescent Emitters

Deep blue thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) emitters with a narrow emission spectrum were developed by managing the molecular structure of the TADF emitters. The deep blue TADF emitters were designed to show large steric hindrance at the central core of the molecule and small singlet–triplet energy gap. The molecular engineering of the deep blue TADF emitters enabled the fabrication of the deep blue TADF device with a full width at half-maximum of only 48 nm and a quantum efficiency of 14.0%. The full width at half-maximum of the deep blue TADF device was similar to that of conventional fluorescent devices, while the quantum efficiency was more than tripled.